Federer, del Potro reach semifinals of Swiss Indoors

• Top-ranked Roger Federer beat France's Benoit Paire in straight sets
• Paul-Henri Mathieu, Federer's opponent in the semifinals, survived two tiebreakers to advance
• Juan Martin del Potro rallied for a three-set win and will face Mikhail Youzhny in the semis

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 (7-2), 7-6 (7-4).

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 last weekend, overcame a one-set deficit and 20 aces by South Africa's Kevin Anderson to win 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 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 (7-5).