Federer eases into Hamburg semis

HAMBURG, Germany (Reuters) - Holder and top seed Roger Federer scored a comfortable 6-3 6-3 win over unseeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco at the Hamburg Masters on Friday to ease into the semi-finals.

The Swiss world number one, still without a major title to his name this year, was joined in the last four by closest rivals Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

The second and third seeds will play each other for a place in Sunday's final and the in-form Serb will take over Nadal's number two world ranking if he wins. Federer will meet Italy's Andreas Seppi.

Djokovic brushed aside Verdasco's compatriot Albert Montanes 6-2 6-3 and Nadal thumped fellow Mallorcan Carlos Moya 6-1 6-3, while Seppi crushed the hopes of the home crowd by beating Germany's Nicolas Kiefer 6-3 5-7 7-5 in a three-hour thriller.

Federer took just under half an hour to wrap up the first set against Verdasco in the day's first quarter-final at the Rothenbaum but had to beat back a determined challenge at the start of the second, saving several break points.

After holding his serve for a 3-2 lead, the 24-year-old Spaniard called for the doctor and had his right ankle heavily bandaged. The clinical Swiss then took full advantage of his opponent's misfortune, breaking serve twice and cruising to victory in 81 minutes.

"He's a very talented player and he's got the game to upset anyone on any surface," the 12-times grand slam winner said at a news conference.

"In the end it was unfortunate for him that his foot hurt a little bit but I don't think that had much to do with it at the very end."

Four times a winner in Hamburg, including against Nadal in the final last year, Federer has played the 24-year-old Seppi just once, coming through a tight match at the Monte Carlo Masters last year in straight sets.

EXTRA PRESSURE

Djokovic has won the Australian Open and two Masters Series titles already this year and was far too good for Montanes, wrapping up the match in just 76 minutes.

Nadal has won all three of their previous matches on clay, beating the Serb in straight sets in the 2007 French Open semi-finals.

Djokovic said on Friday he was trying not to think about the number two ranking as it created unwanted extra pressure.

"I'll just play the match as any other one and try to stay focused," he said at a news conference.

Nadal, the French Open champion the past three years, has spent a record 147 weeks ranked second behind Federer dating back to July 2005.

He said he didn't particularly feel any pressure about Saturday's semi-final because of the ranking issue as he had resigned himself to losing the number two spot eventually.

"If you want it's a little bit more important than a normal Masters semi but it's not as special as if you were playing for the number one," he said.

(Editing by Justin Palmer)