ROGER Federer beat Croatia's Ivo Karlovic 7-6, 6-3 in the Rome Masters yesterday to book a quarter-final against Czech Radek Stepanek.
Earlier, Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic edged past Russia's Igor Andreev 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in his third round match and will face Spain's Nicolas Almagro in the last eight.
Top seed Federer's fluid tennis met stubborn resistance from Karl
ovic in the first set. The Croat, aided by some brutal serves, saved four break points in the eighth game and a set point in the 12th before losing the tiebreak.
Federer then drilled a forehand on to the line to clinch the third of three break points in the fifth game of the second and broke again in the final game of the set to cruise home.
The Swiss player admitted that the towering Croat's big serves were hard to handle initially.
"It's completely different to any other serve out there because of his size and he backs it up well at the net," he said. "He puts a lot of pressure on you because he can hit all four corners very easily. But I think I did well in the second set. I created many opportunities, many more than he did, and that's why I started to relax as the game went on."
Third seed Djokovic had to work much harder against Andreev.
After an early exchange of breaks, the 20-year-old Serb took Andreev's serve in the fourth game with impressive returns and wrapped up the set with a beautifully executed serve-and-volley.
But the Russian had no intention of lying down in their third round match and pulled back into contention by taking the second set having broken in the fourth game.
Djokovic looked rattled for a spell and came close to losing his serve again three times before regaining his composure to break in the second game of the final set.
Serbia's world No 3 had to dig himself out of more trouble in the seventh game of the decider before serving out the match.
Stepanek set up a match against Federer by ending Peruvian qualifier Luis Horna's impressive run with a 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 win.
Almagro, who knocked out Argentine seventh seed David Nalbandian in the second round, went straight into the last eight after Chilean Fernando Gonzalez, last year's finalist, pulled out of their match with a leg injury.
• World No 1 Justine Henin said she was short on confidence after her surprise defeat by Dinara Safina in the German Open third round.
The Belgian, 25, is still favourite to win a fifth French Open title next month but her early exit in Berlin, where she has won three times, has not helped her preparations. "This tournament was important not only for the French Open," a subdued Henin said after her 5-7, 6-3, 6-1 loss. "It was important for me to get some confidence back and that's really what I miss right now."
The full article contains 517 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
