Basel, Switzerland (Sports Network) - Five-time champion and Basel native
Roger Federer was an opening-round winner Monday at the Swiss Indoors tennis
event.
The world No. 1 superstar, playing his first match since losing to Andy Murray
in the semifinals at the Shanghai Masters two weeks ago, handled German
qualifier Benjamin Becker 7-5, 6-3 in 1 hour, 28 minutes on the indoor
hardcourt at St. Jakobshalle.
Federer smacked 10 aces and was broken only once on Day 1.
The Swiss icon Federer beat Japan's Kei Nishikori for a second straight Basel
title a year ago, also claimed championships from 2006-08 and was a Swiss
Indoors runner-up in 2000, 2001 and 2009.
Federer's second-round opponent will be last week's Moscow runner-up Thomaz
Bellucci of Brazil or Japan's Go Soeda.
Also on Monday, Polish qualifier Lukasz Kubot topped Slovak Lukas Lacko 6-4,
6-4 and France's Julien Benneteau overcame Russian qualifier Andrey Kuznetsov
4-6, 6-3, 6-3.
This week's second seed is last week's Vienna champion, Juan Martin del Potro.
The 2012 winner of this $1.84 million event will earn $440,000.
The Sports Network