Federer flattens Stepanek in quick-fire Rome rout

By Bill Scott May 11, 2006, 16:27 GMT

Radek Stepanek from the Czech Republic returns a ball to Swiss tennis player Roger Federer during Rome\'s International Tennis event in Rome\'s Foro Italico on Thursday 11 May 2006. Roger Federer cruised into the quarter-finals of the Rome Masters on Thursday with a 6-1 6-4 victory over Radek Stepanek. EPA/ROBERTO TEDESCHI

Rome - Top seed Roger Federer cut off any hope of a challenge from 14th seed Radek Stepanek, bouncing the Czech out in the third round of the 2.08-million-euro Rome Masters, 6-1, 6-4, on Thursday.

World number 1 Federer, pursuing one of the four (of nine) Masters Series titles which he has yet to win, claimed his 36th victory of the season against two defeats, both of those against second-seeded rival Rafael Nadal.

It was a near-perfect performance from the Swiss, who spent just 56 minutes in reaching the quarter-finals and had just seven unforced errors and 18 winners.

'I'm very happy with how I played. I came up with the right shots at the right time. It was an excellent match for me, I'm very happy to be in the quarters,' the Swiss said.

'He never really got into the match. I felt I was a lot better player for the entire match.'

Stepanek managed to avoid complete embarrassment at the hands of the master as he stayed in tough during the second. But a break for 2-1 from Federer effectively put any upset hopes out of reach on a sunny afternoon after morning clouds.

'I try not to make any mistakes,' said Federer, whose season is pointing towards trying to win the French Open crown which has so far eluded him.

'Things worked well today, I was aggressive on my own serve. The only thing I'm not happy with was the last game (where he fell to 0- 40 before saving Stepanek's only three break points of the match),' said Federer.

Federer stands 2-1 over Stepanek, reportedly now linked with Federer's fellow Swiss Martina Hingis, presumably through her Slovak background.

Argentine fourth seed David Nalbandian also earned a last-eight spot as he put out Spanish qualifier Alberto Martin, 7-5, 6-4.

The South American is riding a run of form after last weekend's first title of the season at Estoril. Nalbandian, who won the Masters Cup trophy in November over Federer, improved to 23-5 on the season and 11-1 on clay.

The victory was the first for Nalbandian over Martin, 27, who won their clay match in Hamburg four years ago. He broke the 77th-ranked Martin six times, losing his own serve on four occasions.

Croatian Mario Ancic eventually ground down Spanish on-fire qualifier Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo, 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 7-5, less than 24 hours after the number 93 had ousted former number 1 Marat Safin in another marathon.