ATP World No. 1 Roger Federer swept into the ATP Masters Series Monte-Carlo quarterfinals on Thursday, following a 6-4, 6-3 win over Korean Hyung-Taik Lee in 65 minutes. Federer, who was beaten in last year’s final by Rafael Nadal, stands one victory away from reaching 500 career wins. The Swiss will next meet David Ferrer of Spain, who knocked out sixth-seeded Serbian Novak Djokovic 7-5, 6-4.
It will be Federer's first ATP Masters Series quarterfinal appearance of the year following his shock early-round losses to Guillermo Canas at Indian Wells and Miami. The Swiss is attempting to win a seventh different ATP Masters Series title - a feat achieved only by Andre Agassi.
Federer went down an early break at 1-2 in the first set against Lee after missing all five first serves in his second service game. He then steadied, saving five of six break points during the match. Federer attacked the second serve of Lee, who won just three second serve points in the match.
Federer has won 12 ATP Masters Series titles in his career, second only to Agassi's 17.
Two-time defending champion Rafael Nadal has dropped just six games in his first two matches. The Spaniard, currently No. 2 in the ATP Rankings, extended his Open Era record-winning streak on clay to 64 matches with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Kristof Vliegen of Belgium on Thursday.
After dropping serve in the first game of the second set Nadal won 21 consecutive points and 24 of the last 26 points of the match to record a devastating victory. The last player to win three consecutive Monte-Carlo titles was Ilie Nastatse in 1971-73.
Czech Tomas Berdych upset sixth-seeded Spaniard Tommy Robredo 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 Thursday at Masters Series Monte-Carlo to set up a quarterfinal meeting with Swede Robin Soderling. Berdych recovered from a heavy first-set loss, saving 11 of 14 break point chances on his serve to stun Robredo, who appeared to be headed to an easy victory.
Berdych has never previously been beyond the second round in Monte-Carlo. His lone ATP Masters Series title came in Paris in 2005 (d. Ljubicic in five sets). He improves to 11-7 on the year and advances to his second quarterfinal of the season (Sydney).
Soderling (pictured) reached the quarterfinals with a 7-6(5), 6-2 win over Max Mirnyi, saving four of five break points faced and thwarting the Belarusian's serve/volley game, which had proved so effective in Mirnyi's first-round defeat of 14th seed Marcos Baghdatis.
Spaniard David Ferrer dug himself out of an early hole in the first set to upset sixth seed Novak Djokovic 7-5, 6-4, snapping the Serb's eight-match winning streak dating back to his first ATP Masters Series title run in Miami. Ferrer, seeded 12th, avenged his quarterfinal loss to Djokovic in Indian Wells, where the 19-year-old continued on to reach the final.
Frenchman Richard Gasquet survived another three-set marathon to reach the quarterfinals, this time defeating seventh-seeded Croatian Ivan Ljubicic 6-3, 6-7(5), 7-5 on his third match point after 2 hrs., 50 mins. In the first round Gasquet toiled for 3 hrs., 20 mins. to defeat Fernando Verdasco.
Two-time former champion Juan Carlos Ferrero reached just his second quarterfinal in his past 15 ATP Masters Series outings with a confident 6-3, 6-3 win over Russian Igor Andreev.
WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID
Federer: "I think it was an average match from my side. I was really struggling with the conditions. Maybe it was just my timing in the beginning. I was just shanking a lot of balls and not able to keep the ball in play. Once I was able to do that I was in total control. So I never felt worried too much today, which is a good sign, especially early on in the clay court season."
Ferrero: "It's a good victory for me for sure, because I was expecting a good win in one of the weeks, and I knew that I played really good in South America in these tournaments, but it was a Masters Series, Monte-Carlo. It's also special for me because I play very good here. So this match means a lot to me. It give me a lot of confidence to play tomorrow."
Nadal: "I'm happy with my level. I play very, very comfortable match. I play very good forehands and backhands. I serve better than yesterday. So very happy with the game, the full game. Very happy. I'm defending good, I am running very good, feeling better on clay in the movements, so, very, very, very good match."
Day 4: Nadal Sends Warning to Rivals
Day 4: Djokovic Keeps Alive Winning Streak
Day 3 Report
Day 2 Report
Day 1 Report
