BASEL: Top-seeded Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina eased past Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus 6-1, 6-2 in the Swiss Indoors second round on Thursday.
Del Potro forced two breaks of serve in each set and saved all five chances the 97th-ranked Baghdatis held in the first set.
In Friday’s quarterfinals, del Potro will face Paul-Henri Mathieu of France, who beat compatriot Michael Llodra 6-4, 6-3.
Five-time Basel champion Roger Federer is in the other half of the draw, and faces the winner of Thursday’s late match between eighth-seeded Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria and Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine.
Dimitrov overcame his opponent 6-3, 6-2 to set up a meeting with the Swiss maestro.
Also, Vasek Pospisil of Canada overcame big-serving Croat Ivo Karlovic 6-3, 6-4, and Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France and Daniel Brands of Germany also won.
Roger-Vasselin defeated Tobias Kamke of Germany 7-5, 6-3, while Brands overcame Lukas Kubot of Poland comfortably 6-2, 6-4. (Reuters)