Nadal ousted; Federer into Halle semis

Halle, Germany – Just four days after capturing his seventh French Open title Rafael Nadal came up a quarterfinal loser, while five-time Halle champion Roger Federer successfully reached the semifinals at the $835,000 Gerry Weber Open, a grass-court Wimbledon tune-up.

Reigning Halle titlist Philipp Kohlschreiber, seeded eighth this week, upended the top-seeded former world No. 1 Nadal 6-3, 6-4 at Gerry Weber Stadium.

"It was a world-class day for me," Kohlschreiber said. "In principle I did nothing wrong."

Kohlschreiber popped eight aces and broke the two-time Wimbledon champion Nadal's serve twice, while the Spaniard failed to break his German counterpart on Day 5.

"It's not the time to look for excuses," Nadal said. "He played much better than me."

Nadal, who was playing his first singles tennis in Halle in seven years this week, had been a perfect 8-0 lifetime against Kohlschreiber before Friday.

Kohlschreiber beat Philipp Petzschner in last year's all-Phillip, all-German finale and was the 2008 Halle runner-up to Federer.

Meanwhile, a second-seeded Federer survived against big-serving fifth-seeded Canadian Milos Raonic, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 7-6 (7-3), in just under two hours. Raonic bowed out despite firing 25 aces past the Swiss icon.

The 30-year-old six-time Wimbledon champion Federer titled here from 2003-06 and in '08 and was the runner-up in 2010.

Federer's semifinal opponent on Saturday will be gritty Russian Mikhail Youzhny, who held off Czech veteran Radek Stepanek 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.

One other quarterfinal resulted in an upset, as oft-injured German favorite Tommy Haas outlasted third-seeded Czech slugger Tomas Berdych 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 in 2 hours, 5 minutes. The 2009 Gerry Weber titlist Haas struck 10 aces and was broken only once in victory.

Berdych titled here in 2007 and was the 2006 runner-up in Halle.

The wild card Haas and Kohlschreiber will lock horns in an all-German semi on Day 6.

The 2012 Gerry Weber champ will collect $150,000.