Kei Nishikori will be hoping to continue his spectacular recent form and reach the last eight of the Swiss Indoors when he plays Andreas Seppi on Thursday.
Nishikori is in red hot form at the moment after his run to the semi-finals of the Shanghai Masters last month and the Basel organisers were delighted to bring him to the event via a wildcard.
The Japanese star stunned fourth seed Tomas Berdych 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the opening round, his second successive top ten scalp after beating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in Shanghai.
"I’m really happy the way I played today," Nishikori said afterwards. "It was a slow start for me, but getting rhythm in the second set and playing really well in the third, so I’m really happy."
The draw has really opened up for him this week as fifth seed Mardy Fish withdrew injured during his opening round match and so Nishikori has a great shot at making the semi-finals.
He'll be strong favourite against Italy's Andreas Seppi on Thursday morning. The Italian did well to see off big serving Gilles Muller in three sets but given Nishikori's form at the moment, it's hard to see this being anything other than a straight sets win for him.
