Federer sees off Soderling
by Setantasports.com Staff, 15 May 2008
Roger Federer breezed into the quarter-finals of the Hamburg Masters with a comfortable 6-3 6-2 victory over Robin Soderling on Thursday afternoon.
World number one Federer had not lost to a Swede in six years and at no point did during this match did that run look like coming to an end.
The Swiss claimed a break in the fourth game of the opener and held served quite comfortably to close out the set.
The second set was an even more straightforward affair, with Federer breaking Soderling in the very first game, and then again in the seventh, to put the seal on a facile win.
In-form Novak Djokovic also won through to the last eight, the Serb defeating big-serving Ivo Karlovic in straight sets.
Djokovic, who won last week’s Rome Masters, was pushed all the way in the opening set but eventually prevailed 7-5 in the tie-breaker.
The world number three looked far more at east in the second set and broke in the sixth game, before holding his serve well, to see out the match.
Elsewhere, Spain’s Fernando Verdasco recorded a shock 7-6 [7-4] 6-2 win over his compatriot, world number five David Ferrer.
Meanwhile, Italy’s Andreas Seppi and Spaniard Albert Montanes are also through to the last eight, after wins over Argentine Juan Monaco and Serb Janko Tipsarevic respectively.
Britain's Andy Murray will take on clay-court specialist Rafael Nadal later in the day.