Basel: Roger Federer eased to victory in the first round of his hometown Swiss Indoors event on Monday, beating Germany's Benjamin Becker 7-5, 6-3. Federer, the defending champion who is seeking his sixth Basel title in seven years, served 10 aces against the 83rd-ranked qualifier.
The top-ranked Swiss is heavily favored to claim his seventh title this year after U.S. Open champion Andy Murray pulled out with a back injury on Friday. The Briton's withdrawal elevated Juan Martin del Porto of Argentina to No. 2 seed.
In other matches, third-seeded Richard Gasquet of France rallied past Robin Haase of the Netherlands 4-6, 6-3, 6-2; Nikolay Davydenko of Russia beat fourth-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland 7-6 (7), 7-6 (3; Sixth-seeded Mikhail Youzhny eased past Bernard Tomic of Australia 6-0, 6-2; Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria upset eighth-seeded Viktor Troicki of Serbia 6-3, 6-2; Brian Baker of the United States beat Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic 2-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3; Matthew Ebden of Australia beat Victor Hanescu of Romania 6-3, 7-6 (3); Marco Chiudinelli of Switzerland beat Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 5-7, 6-3, 6-4; Kevin Anderson of South Africa downed Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 7-6 (4), 6-3; Julien Benneteau of France beat Russia's Andrey Kuznetzov 4-6, 6-3, 6-3; and Polish qualifier Lukasz Kubot defeated Lukas Lacko of Slovakia 6-4, 6-4.
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