Federer cruises in Basel, gets Gasquet in semis

Roger Federer defeated Benoit Paire to make the semis at the Swiss Indoors.

GEORGIOS KEFALAS/EPA

BASEL, Switzerland (AP) - Roger Federer breezed into the Swiss Indoors semifinals, beating France's Benoit Paire 6-2, 6-2 behind a strong serve Friday to raise his record to 65-9 this season.

The top-ranked Swiss was playing the 46th-ranked Paire for the first time.

Federer next faces another Frenchman, Paul-Henri Mathieu, who defeated Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (4). The other semifinal pairs the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds, Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina and Richard Gasquet of France.

Del Potro, who won in Vienna t last weekend, overcame a one-set deficit and 20 aces by South Africa's Kevin Anderson to win 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-2.

Gasquet, still hoping to qualify for the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London, beat sixth-seeded Mikhail Youzhny of Russia 6-2, 7-6 (5).

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