Swiss Indoors Basel: Roger Federer off to dominating start

World No. 2 Roger Federer made a dominating start at the Swiss Indoors Basel on Tuesday as he coasted past Frances Tiafoe in straight sets. Federer put on a master class and cruised past the American teenager 6-1, 6-3 to set up a quarter-final clash against Frenchman Benoit Paire.

Federer, the 19-time Grand Slam champion, was playing his first match since beating arch rival Rafael Nadal in the final of the Shanghai Masters. With Nadal withdrawing from the indoor event due to a knee injury, Federer has the opportunity to cut the Spaniard's World No. 1 lead to 1,460 ATP points.

The 36-year-old Federer would need to win at Basel for the eighth time in his career and follow that up with victories at the Rolex Paris Masters (Oct. 30-Nov. 5) and the Nitto ATP Finals (Nov. 12-19) for a realistic shot at displacing Nadal as the World No. 1. While Nadal is still the favourite to finish 2017 as the World No. 1, Federer could make things interesting with victories at Basel, Paris and London.

Roger Federer showing no signs of fatigue

In a recent interview, Federer admitted that he still had energy to cap off the season on a high. The Swiss Master is enjoying on the best years of his illustrious career, having captured the Australian Open and Wimbledon to increase his Grand Slam tally to 19.

"I was surprised I was not tired (after Shanghai) I took three days off, I've been training again since Thursday, doing gym and on court. I feel good. I still have energy for the rest of the season. The break during the clay court season had positive consequences, the (hard court season) I just played Montreal and the US Open. It was tough I had to invest so much in the back—massage, stretching, everything. This also requires energy," Federer told Tages Anzeiger.

Roger Federer would receive 500 points for a win in his home tournament in Basel, 1000 points for a victory at Paris and another 1,500 points if he were to prevail at the ATP Finals in London, Great Britain. Nadal is expected to re-join the tour at Paris after resting his troublesome knee. Federer and Nadal have split the four Grand Slams of 2017, renewing their rivalry in the final stages of the career.