Federer advances at Swiss indoors

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 12:06

The top seed at this hardcourt event in his native Switzerland, Federer advanced to the quarter-finals with a 7-6 (8/6) 7-6 (6/1) victory over Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen.

Federer is the two-time defending champion and has won 12 consecutive matches here. The 27-year-old also was a finalist in 2000 and 2001.

The second-ranked Federer, who lost the world number one ranking to Rafael Nadal in August and will finish the year out of the top spot for the first time since 2003, will face unseeded Italian Simone Bolelli in the quarter-finals.

Fourth-seeded American James Blake is a potential semi-final foe for Federer after rallying for a 6-7 (4/7) 6-2 6-4 win over Spain’s Oscar Hernandez.

Blake, who was 0-8 against Federer before beating him at the Beijing Olympics in August, first needs to concern himself with hot-handed Spaniard Feliciano Lopez.

Lopez is 0-2 lifetime against Blake, but has been playing well in recent weeks, reaching the semi-finals in Vienna and the quarters last week in Madrid. He also upset Blake compatriot and eighth seed Mardy Fish in the second round.

An all-Argentinian semi-final clash is looming in the bottom of the draw, where both number two seed David Nalbandian and third seed Juan Martin del Potro advanced to the last eight.

Del Potro, who is threatening to overtake Nalbandian as Argentina’s number one player, continued his strong play with a 6-3 6-3 victory over Stephane Bohli.

Before entertaining thoughts of a head-to-head showdown with his countryman, Del Potro will have to battle past sixth-seeded Russian Igor Andreev. Nalbandian moved through with a 6-4 5-7 7-6 (7/4) win against Kristof Vliegen and booked a quarter-final match with Benjamin Becker.

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