Federer hands home victory to an adoring Basle public

By Bill Scott Oct 24, 2006, 19:40 GMT

Switzerland\'s Roger Federer returns a ball to Czech\'s Tomas Zib during their first round match at the Davidoff Swiss Indoors tennis tournament in Basel, Switzerland, Tuesday, 24 October 2006. EPA/GEORGIOS KEFALAS

Basle - Roger Federer relaxed and enjoyed the ride as he opened his first campaign since 2003 at his hometown Davidoff Swiss Indoors with a resounding win Tuesday.

The world number 1 crushed Czech qualifying cannon fodder Tomas Zib 6-1, 6-2, arriving on court under a spotlight, exiting to a standing ovation an in between putting on a ruthless virtuoso performance.

The top seed who has failed twice in finals (2000 and 2001) to lift the trophy which means the world to him, gave a sellout crowd its money's worth with a back-flicking cross-court return past Zib midway through the second set which sealed his unquestioned superiority.

'I hit if off the frame, but it still worked,' a smiling Federer said. 'Every once in awhile, you get lucky.'

The Swiss will now have until Thursday evening to recharge after winning his tenth title of a runaway season at the weekend at the Madrid Masters.

Federer improved to a career-best 83-5 with three of his ten 2006 titles (US Open, Tokyo, Madrid) coming during his current 20-match win streak.

'I had a nice reception, I'm playing well the results was fantastic, I couldn't ask for more,' Federer said after missing Basle in 2004 with a leg injury and a year ago when he was just coming off crutches after rolling his ankle during practice.

The world number 1 will play for the quarter-finals against Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, who beat German Julian Reister 7-6 (7-4), 6-2.

Paradorn Srichaphan edged closer to break-even tennis this season, improving his record to 28 wins and 30 losses with a 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-4) opening win over German Benjamin Becker.

The Thai, ranked 54th, reached the quarter-finals a year ago and could level at 30-30 for the year if he gets past the final eight at this edition.

Becker, the last man to beat Andre Agassi with a third-round win at the US Open, reached the Tokyo semi-finals this month where he was crushed by Federer.

The chase for next month's Masters Cup should intensify this week with both second seed David Nalbandian and Gonzalez bidding for one of the remaining eight spots in the field.

Federer and Spain's Rafael Nadal are the only men to have qualified with this week and one more next week in Paris left in the regular ATP season.

American Mardy Fish advanced over Czech Jiri Vanek 6-4, 6-3 while Czech veteran Jiri Novak was handed win as compatriot Jan Hajek retired 6-7 (5-7), 3-0 with an abdominal muscle strain.