Federer produces polished performance to advance in Japan

By Bill Scott Oct 5, 2006, 14:35 GMT

Tokyo - Flawless Roger Federer flirted with perfection during a 6-2, 6-1 defeat of defending champion Wesley Moodie which powered the Swiss comfortably into the quarter-finals of the AIG Open Thursday.

The world number 1 wasn't bothered by the steady rain which made a hash of scheduling, as his showcase match was played under the closed roof of the Ariake colosseum.

South African Moodie, ranked 73rd, paid the price against the on-form top seed, going down in 52 minutes as he lost serve four times.

After struggling with a Serbian qualifier a day earlier, Federer couldn't have been more satisfied.

'I came up with some great shots, it was a very enjoyable match. I was solid on my serve and my passing shots. I read his game well. I was able to know what return to hit and at what moment.

'I played consistently,' he correctly concluded after improving his sparkling record to 74-5 this season.

The top seed's sweep was welcome news for organizers, who struggled to schedule on their one available court.

'I was expecting another tough match,' said Federer, who has already clinched the world number 1 ranking for a third consecutive year. 'I had troubles yesterday and I thought it would be the same today.

A pair of slow-running women's second-round matches which began the day conspired to throw the event well behind schedule.

Those two contests took a total of nearly six hours to complete, with Japanese second seed Ai Sugiyama requiring almost three hours to overcome American Vania King 6-4, 5-7, 7-5.

Youlia Fedossova of France needed nearly two and a half hours to beat Japan's Akiko Morigami 4-6, 7-5, 6-3.

With rain forecast for Friday as well due to typhoon activity in the Pacific, scheduling was becoming critical.

Some doubles matches were moved off site to a covered facility, and matches featuring third seed Mario Ancic and number 10 Tim Henman were called off for the day.

Federer did his part to speed things up as he allowed South African Moodie, 73rd in the world, just three games, advancing on the first of three match points.

Federer is making his Japanese debut as he bids for his ninth title of the season. He will play for the semi-finals against Japan's Takeo Suzuki, who won a marathon over German Alexander Waske 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (12-10), 6-1.

The 27-year-old Moodie's lone career title came in Tokyo a year ago against Ancic.