Fri May 16 15:42:54 2008

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Federer, Nadal, Djokovic cruise into Hamburg semis

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Hamburg, Germany (Sports Network) - Reigning champion Roger Federer, clay-court king Rafael Nadal and Australian Open titlist Novak Djokovic were easy quarterfinal winners Friday at the $2.955 million Masters Series Hamburg, a clay-court French Open tuneup.

The top-seeded Federer blew past Spanish lefthander Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 6-3, while the second-seeded Nadal floored his 11th-seeded close friend and fellow Mallorcan Carlos Moya 6-1, 6-3 and a third-seeded Djokovic stayed hot by dousing Spaniard Albert Montanes 6-2, 6-3 on Day 6 at Rothenbaum. The high-flying Djokovic was last week's clay-court champion in Rome and will battle Nadal in a marquee semifinal here on Saturday.

The reigning Wimbledon and U.S. Open champion Federer beat Nadal in last year's Hamburg finale to capture his fourth title here in six years (2002, 2004-05, 2007).

Federer, who is now a stellar 28-3 lifetime at this event, will face Italian Andreas Seppi on Saturday. Seppi took out heavy German crowd favorite Nicolas Kiefer 6-3, 5-7, 7-5.

The 26-year-old Federer is 1-0 lifetime against Seppi, with the win coming on red clay in Monte Carlo last year.

The three-time French Open champion Nadal, who has to beat Djokovic on Saturday in order to retain his world No. 2 ranking, is 6-3 lifetime against the surging Serb, including a semifinal victory in a Masters Series tournament at Indian Wells earlier this season.

Nadal is a remarkable 106-2 in his last 108 matches on clay.