Roger Federer delighted a capacity crowd to ease past American youngster Frances Tiafoe 6-1 6-3 in his first round match at the Swiss Indoors in his home town of Basel yesterday.The world number two streaked away with the opening set and although he was made to work a little harder in the second he was never seriously troubled by the wildcard. The 35-year-old Swiss, trying to chase down the absent Rafael Nadal for the end-of-year number one ranking, will face Frenchman Benoit Paire in the second round. Federer is trying to win his home tournament for an eighth time, having missed it last year while he recovered from injury. Federer will next face Frenchman Benoit Paire, who moved past American Steve Johnson, 6-3, 7-6(4) in one hour, 50 minutes. The Swiss has won all four of their Fed Ex ATP Head2Head matchups without dropping a set. The pair’s last meeting came at this year’s Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, where Federer won 6-1, 6-3. Third seed David Goffin of Belgium, battling for a place in the ATP World Tour Finals, began with a 6-2 7-5 win over German Peter Gojowczyk and will meet South Korean Hyeon Chung next.Results First round Roger Federer (SUI x1) bt Frances Tiafoe (USA) 6-1, 6-3Ryan Harrison (USA) bt Alexandr Dolgopolov (UKR) 6-4, 6-1Benoit Paire (FRA) bt Steve Johnson (USA) 6-3, 7-6 (7/4)David Goffin (BEL x3) bt Peter Gojowczyk (GER) 6-2, 7-5Jack Sock (USA x5) bt Vasek Pospisil (CAN) 3-6, 7-6 (9/7), 7-5 Leonardo Mayer (ARG) bt Mischa Zverev (GER x8) 7-5, 7-5.
October 24, 2017 | 10:49 PM