Federer powers past Struff into Basel quarter-finals

Basel, Switzerland: Roger Federer won his 17th consecutive match at the Swiss Indoors on Thursday, dispatching Jan-Lennard Struff 6-3, 7-5 to reach the quarter-finals.

The top seed, unbeaten in Basel since 2013, is an eight-time winner of his home event and will next play against either Frenchman Gilles Simon or Latvia's Ernests Gulbis.

The 37-year-old Federer, ranked third in the world, trailed to an early break but soon recovered for 3-all in the opening set.

He then broke for 5-3 before closing out the opener in 27 minutes. 

The second set stayed on serve until a fifth double-fault from Struff, which opened the door for Federer to move 6-5 ahead.

Moments later, the 20-time Grand Slam champion served out a 41st victory of the season with a volley into the empty court on his first match point.

Second seed Alexander Zverev ended the run of 174th-ranked Australian teenage qualifier Alexei Popyrin with a 6-4, 6-4 win.

The German next plays Spanish eighth seed Roberto Bautista Agut who continued his quiet progress through the draw, beating Serb Dusan Lajovic 6-7 (6/8), 6-3, 6-3.