Defending champion Roger Federer cruised into the semifinals of the Hamburg Masters by beating Fernando Verdasco of Spain 6-3, 6-3 yesterday.

The top-ranked Swiss player, seeking his fifth title in Hamburg, broke Verdasco's serve once in the first set.

Verdasco, who lost in the first round to Federer in Hamburg three years ago in their only previous encounter, had his right foot taped after taking a 3-2 lead in the second set and didn't win another game.

"I felt a sharp pain in my ankle in the fourth game, just when I was making him suffer," Verdasco said.

Federer said it was a pity Verdasco hurt his foot, although he didn't think it mattered much in the end.

"But it was a tough match. He has a perfect game to upset anyone on any surface," Federer said. "He was aggressive with his backhand and he surprised me.

"It took me a little time to adjust little to a lefty."

Federer has won only one title this year, at a relatively small clay-court tournament last month in Estoril, Portugal.

This tournament is a major warmup for the French Open later this month, the only grand slam title that Federer has yet to win.

In Rome, fifth-seeded Serena Williams withdrew from her quarterfinal match at the Italian Open yesterday due to a back problem.

Williams' back froze suddenly while warming up on a practice court for her match with French qualifier Alize Cornet, organizers said.

In the semifinals, Cornet, last year's French Open junior champion, will meet sixth-seeded Anna Chakvetadze, who held off Bulgarian qualifier Tsvetana Pironkova 6-2, 3-6, 6-1.

Pironkova notched the biggest win of her career on Wednesday when she upset top-seeded Ana Ivanovic, and she appeared out of energy in the third set.

Chakvetadze was trying to figure out what went wrong for her in the second set.

"I don't know what happened with me," she said. "I felt like I was playing against myself."

The match was characterized by long baseline rallies, and both players had their right shoulders checked by a trainer at various points.

"Hopefully the trainer will help me today after the match," said Chakvetadze, who won the seventh title of her career at the Paris Indoors in February.

The 64th-ranked Pironkova was playing her first Tier I quarterfinal.

In the other half of the draw, second-seeded Maria Sharapova faced 2005 runner-up Patty Schnyder, and defending champion Jelena Jankovic was up against 1999 winner Venus Williams.

(Agencies via Shanghai Daily May 17, 2008)