Tennis: Roger Federer made sure of his place in the semi-finals of the Monte Carlo Masters with a 6-4 6-0 win over 12th seed David Ferrer.
Having struggled with his serve in his third-round match against Korean Hyung-Taik Lee yesterday, the top seed again looked far from his best on his least-favoured surface of clay.
But the world number one still proved too much for Ferrer to set up a semi-final meeting with either 11th seed Richard Gasquet and Juan Carlos Ferrero, the number 16 seed.
It was the sixth meeting between the two, with Federer holding a 5-0 record over his Spanish opponent, including a straight-sets victory at the same stage in Monte Carlo last year.
In fact Ferrer had yet to win a set against his illustrious opponent, and the Swiss star made the perfect start again on Friday, breaking in the opening game.
However, the 12th seed hit back in the fourth, with a string of errors then seeing the players exchanging serves over the next two games before Ferrer bucked the trend on his own service game to hold a 4-3 lead.
Both players were struggling to find their rhythm, but it was Federer who made the decisive break in the ninth game before quickly wrapping up the next to take the first set 6-4.
The second set began in similar fashion to the first with the top seed finding himself a break up in the opening game.
And further breaks followed in the third and fifth games as Ferrer's serve deserted him, allowing Federer to race to another straight-sets win in just 59 minutes.
Czech Tomas Berdych also advanced to the last four in Monte Carlo with a battling 5-7 6-3 6-0 victory over Robin Soderling of Sweden.