Federer, Coria Strong into ATP Hamburg Quarterfinals

Posted on May 15, 2004

The top two seeds fought off strong challenges Thursday at the ATP Masters Series-Hamburg when top-seeded Roger Federer defeated No. 13 Fernando Gonzalez 7-5, 6-1, and clay magician Guillermo Coria came back from a break in the first set to beat No. 16 Tommy Robredo 7-6(2), 6-4.

"I thought I really played well all match long and he played a good game to come back," Federer said. "You have to take it in you own hands and that's what I did."

Federer's win sets up a mouth-watering meeting with the resurgent former King of Clay Carlos Moya.

Other seeds advancing were (7)Moya (d. countryman Verdasco in three) and (17)Lleyton Hewitt (d. Saretta in three). Un-seeded into the quarterfinals were Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer (d. Safin), Spaniard Dave Ferrer (d. countryman Costa), Russian Mikhail Youzhny (d. (WC)Mayer), and big-serving Croat Ivan Ljubicic (d. Pavel in three).

Friday's quarterfinals line up as (1)Federer vs. (7)Moya (Fed leads 3-0, all on hardcourt), (17)Hewitt vs. "Tuna" Melzer, Ferrer vs. (2)Coria, and Ljubicic vs. Youzhny.

WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
Top-seeded Serena Williams looked sharp in steamrolling qualifier Dally Randriantefy 6-1, 6-3 in third round action at Rome Thursday.

Joining Serena in the quarters were seeds (2)Amelie Mauresmo (d. former champ (13)Martinez), (5)Jennifer Capriati (d. (12)Suarez), (8)Vera "Warren" Zvonareva (d. Bovina), (9)Svetlana Kuznetsova (d. (7)Sugiyama 7-6 in the third), (10)Silvia Farina Elia (d. Sharapova, then Shaughnessy in a rain-delayed match), (14)Francesca Schiavone (d. Likhovtseva), and (16)Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi (d. (WC)Pennetta).

Friday's QF match-ups are (8)Zvonareva vs. (14)Schiavone, (10)Farina Elia vs. (2)Mauresmo, (1)Serena vs. (9)Kuznetsova, and (16)Smashnova-Pistolesi vs. (5)Capriati.

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NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Juan Carlos Ferrero says it's not keeping him up at night worrying whether he'll become big in the States: "I don't really worry much about it," the former No. 1 told Tennis Week. "I have an aggressive game, hitting winners from anywhere on a court. I have a quiet personality, and I like to speak Spanish since my English is not as good. This is the way I am. Take it or leave it, but come to watch me play and you will always see me trying to win."...Florian Mayer is consistently finding himself the last German standing at ATP events, and says competing on the German Davis Cup team is his ultimate goal: "Of course, that's why you play tennis, to play the Davis Cup. There are three players much higher in the ranking, Tommy (Haas), Nicolas (Kiefer) and Rainer (Schuettler). 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