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Roger Federer took just 54 minutes to oust Mikhail Kukushkin at the Swiss Indoors in Basel. (AFP)
AFP/Basel
Roger Federer charged past his first hurdle in the quest for a lucky seventh title at the Swiss Indoors yesterday, with the top seed delivering a crushing 6-1, 6-2 lesson to Mikhail Kukushkin. Federer set up a second-round contest with a good friend he has beaten in all 10 of their matches as he plays Philipp Kohlschreiber after the German started with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 defeat of Pole Jerzy Janowicz.
2014 finalist David Goffin of Belgium, hammered by Federer in less than an hour a year ago in the title match, won his opening encounter as he beat Italian Andreas Seppi 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. Frenchman Richard Gasquet, seeded fifth, kept his slender hopes of a year-end spot in London alive as he beat Jiri Vesely 6-3, 6-7 (2-7), 6-4.
Gasquet would have to win titles at both Basel and Paris Bercy next week to have a chance of making the eight-player field, according to ATP calculations. American sixth seed John Isner needed 64 minutes to put out Ernests Gulbis, sending down 16 aces in a 6-3, 6-4 win. Grigor Dimitrov began erasing a run of recent poor form as the Bulgarian beat Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-3, 6-4.
Federer’s demolition in front of an appreciative home public at the event where the 17-time Grand Slam winner got his start in the game as a ballboy took only 54 minutes. The top-seeded Swiss is seeking his 10th straight finals appearance at Basel. He last beat his 64th-ranked Kazakh opponent in the Davis Cup quarter-finals in Geneva a year ago.
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