Ruthless Roger Federer stayed on course for a 10th title at his hometown Swiss Indoor tournament in Basel, dropping only three games in crushing Moldova's Radu Albot on Wednesday. The 38-year-old, who has lost six games so far in the tournament, dispatched his hapless opponent in only 62 minutes winning the second-round match 6-0 6-3. It was a 22nd consecutive win at the tournament for Federer who has won the title on the last four occasions he has taken part in Basel. Albot gave Federer a tough time at the Miami Open earlier this year, losing in three sets in the second round, but offered little resistance this time. "I really struggled against him in Miami and he definitely got my attention there. I was basically a point away from losing," said Federer. "I think I learned a lot from that match." "I really respect Radu. He tries everything to win in a really tough and great and fair way. I'm very happy with the way I played. I had an answer for everything he threw at me today and that's great." Federer's fellow Swiss Stan Wawrinka comfortably beat Uruguay's Pablo Cuevas 6-3, 6-4 in the first round, hammering 30 winners and serving 10 aces along the way. David Goffin, who had lost his previous three matches to Marin Cilic, ended that run with a 6-4, 6-4 win in a first-round match. The Belgian is now a strong contender for one of the two remaining places at the end-of-season finals in London. Goffin fired 11 aces, compared to four for the usually big-serving Cilic, and converted all three of his break points as he claimed his first win over the Croatian since 2016. Monfils rallies to beat Novak in Vienna Gael Monfils came back from a perilous position to beat Dennis Novak 2-6, 7-5, 6-3 at the Vienna Open on Wednesday and progress to the second round. Novak broke the 33-year-old twice as he took the first set and was also in charge in the second until a break of serve for the Frenchman changed the momentum of the match. Monfils, who fired 13 aces and converted all three of his break points, went on to win the last two sets to stay in contention for one of the two remaining spots in the end-of-season ATP Finals in London. He will meet 18-year-old Italian Jannik Sinner in the second round. Third seed Matteo Berrettini won two tiebreaks as he beat US Open semifinalist Grigor Dimitrov 7-6(7-5) 7-6(7-1) in a second round match. The Italian, firmly on course for London, hit 36 winners including 20 from his forehand. Canadian Denis Shapovalov, who won in Stockholm on Sunday to claim his first ATP title, lost to Spaniard Pablo Carreno-Busta 6-3, 7-5.— Reuters
