Following his first round victory, hometown hero Roger Federer is through to the second round of the Swiss Indoor Basel, where he will meet Denis Istomin on Thursday. This is the second consecutive year where these two competitors will meet at this stage of the tournament and the sixth time overall. Federer holds an undefeated 5-0 head to head record against the Uzbekistan native.

With the motivation of a potential year-end No. 1 ranking, Roger Federer stormed to a 47-minute victory over Gilles Muller. The top seed, a hometown hero in Basel, managed 12 winners, with 5 aces, to close out the match 6-2, 6-1. Federer moves to a 61-10 record this season and will look to further his bid for a fifth title this season.

Earlier in the day, Denis Istomin picked up a surprisingly straightforward victory over Jerzy Janowicz, 6-1, 6-1. Istomin fired 14 aces, won 84 percent of his first service points and saved both the break points he faced on serve to win the match in 55 minutes.

This marks the sixth time that Federer and Istomin will cross paths on the ATP World Tour, with Federer leading the series with an impenetrable 5-0 record. When they last met at the same stage of the tournament in 2013, Federer was forced to rally back from a set down to defeat the Uzbek native 4-6 6-3 6-2. Considering the Swiss No. 1 is in far better form this season, it is unlikely that he will need more than two sets to advance to the quarter-final round in Basel.

Prediction: Roger Federer in Straight Sets