Nadal, Federer, Murray reach Monte Carlo quarters

By Bill Scott Apr 14, 2011, 17:37 GMT

Roger Federer of Switzerland serves the ball to Marin Cilic of Croatia during their third round match at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters tournament in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France, 14 April 2011. EPA/CHRISTOPHE KARABA

Monte Carlo - Rafael Nadal led fellow tennis elite Roger Federer into the quarter-finals at the Monte Carlo Masters Thursday as the top two stayed on a collision course for a potential blockbuster weekend final.

Nadal played solid, if unspectacular, tennis in defeating Frenchman Richard Gasquet 6-2, 6-4 for a 34th consecutive win at the venue where he's claimed the last six titles.

Federer, seeded second and denied trophies at the Country club in 2006-2008 by his Spanish rival, defeated Croatian 15th seed Marin Cilic 6-4, 6-3.

'Today was another solid performance, which I'm very happy about,' said Federer. 'I'm happy that I'm solid on my serve.'

Third seed Andy Murray backed up his first win in two months from this week as he made it two in a row with a defeat of injured Frenchman Gilles Simon 6-3, 6-3.

Murray won a first set lasting almost an hour, with Simon spraining his right ankle as he leaped high on a shot to save a first set point. After a taping, he came back out, with Murray taking the set.

The Scot then kept his nerve for the victory despite being jeered by the crowd for his frequent use of drop shots.

'When Gilles got hurt at 5-3, he wasn't moving well for the next four or five games,' said Murray. 'But I was just trying to win the match. The crowd didn't like it, but I had to do what I had to do to win.'

Fourth-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer ended the run of Canadian Milos Raonic 6-1, 6-3.

Two seeds lost, with No 7 Jurgen Melzer beating No 9 Nicolas Almagro 6-1, 6-4 and Portuguese outsider Frederico Gil, ranked 82nd, upsetting eighth seed Gael Monfils of France 7-6 (7-2), 6-2.

Federer now stands alongside Novak Djokovic - undefeated so far this season but not playing this week - with the most wins on the ATP, 24 apiece. Federer has lost three times to the Serb in 2011 and once to Nadal.

Nadal took the opening set against Gasquet with relative ease but found himself in a second-set battle for a few games.

Nadal improve his record in the series to 8-0 and to 36-1 in Monaco, where he has not lost since 2003 and has won the last six editions.

Nadal hinted that he playing his way into form after getting only minimal clay training. 'I practiced three days, so there is nothing that you can do to prepare for the clay season,' said the Spaniard.

'You arrive from Miami on Tuesday (last week), I practiced Wednesday. I'm just trying to adapt a little bit to the surface. You can't prepare one shot, you can't prepare nothing. The only thing you can try is adapt to the court, the running, the movements.'

Nadal will face off Friday against Croatian veteran Ivan Ljubicic, a winner over Czech fifth seed Thomas Berdych 6-4, 6-2.

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