Rotterdam, Netherlands – Swiss great Roger Federer, up Tomas Berdych and former U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro were a trio of quarterfinal winners Friday at the $1.6 million ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament.
The top-seeded former Rotterdam champion Federer topped Finnish veteran Jarkko Nieminen 7-5, 7-6 (7-2) in an hour-and-a-half. The Swiss icon struck eight aces and held his serve throughout on Day 5 as he improved to 13-0 against Nieminen.
The 16-time major champion Federer was the Rotterdam titlist the last time he played here back in 2005.
Federer's semifinal opponent on Saturday will be former top-five Russian star Nikolay Davydenko, a 7-5, 6-3 upset winner against fifth-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet on Friday. Federer is a laughable 16-2 lifetime against Davydenko, including a win in Doha this year. The Swiss also topped the Russian in a quarterfinal here in Rotterdam in '05.
The second-seeded Czech Berdych, fresh off his title in Montpellier, France two weeks ago, handled Italian Andreas Seppi 6-3, 6-4, while the third-seeded Argentine del Potro won the first eight games of the match en route to pasting seventh-seeded Serb Viktor Troicki 6-0, 6-1 in a mere 61 minutes at Ahoy Stadium.
Berdych and del Potro will do battle in Saturday's semifinals. The Argentine is 2-1 lifetime against the Czech. The two have not met since 2009, a year in which del Potro swept a pair of meetings.
The 2012 Rotterdam winner will collect $385,000.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.