Federer eases past Kukushkin in Swiss Indoors first round

BASEL, Switzerland (AP) Roger Federer eased to a 6-1, 6-2 first-round win at his hometown Swiss Indoors on Tuesday against Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan.

Top-seeded Federer, a six-time champion at Basel, took just 55 minutes to complete victory over 64th-ranked Kukushkin.

Federer created 13 break-point chances and took four of them to clinch his first win in more than five weeks.

Since winning two Davis Cup singles rubbers against the Netherlands, also played on indoor hard courts in Switzerland, Federer lost his opening Shanghai Masters match against Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain.

Federer's Round of 16 opponent on Thursday will be Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany, who beat Jerzy Janowicz of Poland, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

Also Tuesday, sixth-seeded John Isner of the United States beat Ernests Gulbis of Latvia, 6-3, 6-4.