Basel: Roger Federer advanced to the quarter-finals and Andy Murray withdrew because of an injury just before his first-round match at the Swiss Indoors on Wednesday.
Andy Roddick also advanced, using his serve to beat Tommy Haas of Germany 6-3, 6-4 in the late match. The seventh-seeded American had 12 aces and never allowed Haas a break point chance.
Federer, defending champion at his hometown event, dropped a set against Jarkko Nieminen of Finland for the first time in their 12 matches but came through 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.
"It was still a good match, I thought, for me to come through," said Federer, who is playing his tournament since the US Open and served three straight double faults when broken in the second set. "It was due to my ups and downs that he got a chance."
Murray's injury left the third-seeded Swiss a clearer path to a possible final against top-ranked Novak Djokovic for a third straight year.
"I never saw (Murray) as a potential opponent anyway because I'm too focused on what I have to do," Federer said. "I am sure it is somewhat disappointing for the tournament director after going through all the headaches with the wildcards."
The second-seeded Murray of Scotland, who requested a late entry last week, pulled out of his match just before playing Robin Haase of the Netherlands because of a gluteal muscle strain. Murray had also been scheduled to pair up with brother Jamie in an evening doubles match.
He was on a career-best 15-match winning streak after wins in successive weeks in Bangkok, Tokyo and Shanghai.
Five of the current top-eight men were lined up in a tough main draw, but only Federer and Djokovic remain. Murray followed Mardy Fish of the United States in succumbing to injury, and Czech Tomas Berdych was ousted on Tuesday by wildcard entry Kei Nishikori.
Sixth-seeded Janko Tipsarevic, like Fish on Tuesday, was hurt in his first-round match and retired.
Tipsarevic retired on serve while trailing Florian Mayer of Germany 5-1 in the first set. The Serb will have to reach at least the final in Paris next week if he's to qualify for the eight-man ATP World Tour Finals in London.
Roddick next plays Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic, who won 6-1, 6-3 against Santiago Giraldo of Colombia.
Murray's place in the singles draw was taken by lucky loser Marco Chiudinelli, a childhood friend of Federer, who lost 6-2, 7-6 (7) to Haase.
In a first-round match between two qualifiers, Lukasz Kubot of Poland beat Tobias Kamke of Germany, 5-7, 7-5, 6-2.
Marcos Baghdatis advanced to the quarter-finals by defeating 327th-ranked Swiss qualifier Michael Lammer 7-6 (2), 6-7 (2), 6-3. The Cypriot is a likely crowd-pleasing match-up for Djokovic on Friday.
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