HAMBURG: Roger Federer had few problems as he breezed into the quarterfinals of the Hamburg ATP tournament with a straight sets third-round win over Czech opponent Jan Hajek on Thursday.
The Swiss ace, playing his second match since his second-round exit at Wimbledon last month, needed just over an hour to seal a 6-4, 6-3 win over the 29-year-old Hajek to reach the last eight.
Federer squandered 10 of his 13 break points, including five match points in the eighth game of the second set, but prevailed in 72 minutes.
Having brushed off his Wimbledon cobwebs by fighting back after losing the first set to Germany’s Daniel Brand in Wednesday’s second round, the 31-year-old Federer fired down seven aces to Hajek’s two.
Second-seed Tommy Haas also booked his place in the last eight with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Argentina’s Carlos Berlocq.
The 35-year-old German is bidding to win his hometown title for the first time in 11 appearances.
He has won four of his 14 ATP World Tour titles on German soil and in the quarterfinals Haas faces 12th-seeded Italian Fabio Fognini, who dismissed Marcel Granollers 6-2, 6-4 in 90 minutes.
The 26-year-old Fognini won his first tour title in Stuttgart last week, where he beat Haas in the quarterfinals.
