Tennis
Federer reaches quarter-finals in rainy Estoril
By DPA
Apr 17, 2008, 18:46 GMT

Estoril, Portugal - Determined Roger Federer ignored light drizzle to move into the quarter-finals of the Estoril Open on Thursday, overcoming Romanian Victor Hanescu 6-3, 6-2 with a polished clay performance.

The top seed who is trialling Spanish coach Jose Higueras this week in view of a possibly more permanent arrangement, came through in 59 minutes after the 68th-ranked challenger had saved three match points.

But the Swiss put things right with his third ace of a trying afternoon.

'I played offensive and he didn't know what to do. It was a good match,' said Federer. 'I'm very happy but it's not a match to over- rate. It was a solid performance though.'

The pair played the first set in the rain before it died away slightly in time for Federer to get into the locker room after winning in two straightforward sets.

The number one is hoping to lift his first trophy of a slow- starting season after battling the mononucleosis virus in January, with a pair of semi-finals his best showings so far.

Federer got into an early 3-1 lead in the first set and finished with a love game.

In the second, he quickly broke twice before Hanescu could react.

Hensscu, now 0-3 - all on clay - against the Swiss - saved three Federer match-winning chances before finally going out in the second- round encounter.

'It was rainy throughout the match, that's always a hard thing,' said the Swiss winner. 'The balls have a very dead feel, the kick serve is non-existent.

Federer said that despite the speculation about his new relationship with Higueras, the French Open crown is not his first priority.

'My main goal is not to win the French Open, let's make that clear,' he said.

'I'd love to win it but Wimbledon still ranks as my number one and also the Olympics this year - after those come everything else.

'I'll try my best in Paris, but the French Open is not why I hired Jose.

'I hired him to help improve my game, to make me a better player. That will help me to do better in any event I play, including the French Open.

Elsewhere, Jiri Vanek stopped Michael Berrer, the German eighth seed, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5. Denis Gremelmayr earned some German success as he beat Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili 7-6 (8-6), 6-1.

Women's second seed Maria Kirilenko reached the last eight with a defeat of Czech Petra Cetkovska 6-3, 6-2. Ukrainian Olga Savchuk put out Sweden's seventh seed Sofia Arvidsson 6-2, 6-2.