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Roger Federer, Juan Martin del Potro, Marin Cilic advance to Basel quarterfinals

In this Oct. 15, 2017 file photo, Roger Federer of Switzerland hits a return shot to Rafael Nadal of Spain during their men’s singles final match of the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament at Qizhong Forest Sports City Tennis Center in Shanghai, China. (Andy Wong / Associated Press)
Associated Press

BASEL, Switzerland – Roger Federer and Juan Martin del Potro both eased into the Swiss Indoors quarterfinals by beating French opponents in straight sets on Thursday.

Top-seeded Federer cruised to a 6-1, 6-3 win over 40th-ranked Benoit Paire in 57 minutes.

Federer took his second match-point chance on Paire’s serve, approaching the net to hit a forehand crosscourt winner.

Federer has not faced a break point this week in two matches at his hometown event in Basel. He next plays another Frenchman, seventh-seeded Adrian Mannarino.

Mannarino advanced to Friday’s quarterfinals after beating Canadian teenager Denis Shapovalov 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.

Fourth-seeded Del Potro, a two-time Basel champion, beat Julien Benneteau 6-4, 6-4 and stayed on course to qualify for the ATP World Tour Finals lineup in London next month.

Also Thursday, Marin Cilic, the second-seeded defending champion, beat 54th-ranked Borna Coric 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to improve to 5-0 against his Croatian compatriot.

Cilic will play Hungarian qualifier Marton Fucsovics in the quarterfinals. Fucsovics advanced when opponent Leonardo Mayer retired when trailing 3-0 in the first set.