Second seed Juan Carlos Ferrero and fourth seed Roger Federer set up a semifinal showdown in contrasting style at the Rome Masters on Friday.While Ferrero cruised to a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Germany’s Rainer Schuettler in his quarterfinal match, Federer dropped a set for the first time in his last nine claycourt matches before beating home favourite Filippo Volandri 6-3, 5-7, 6-2. The winner of their match will face either Russia’s Yevgeny Kafelnikov, who beat Martin Verkerk 6-3, 7-5, or Felix Mantilla, who defeated Ivan Ljubicic 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.Kafelnikov and Mantilla are attempting to become the first unseeded player to win the Rome tournament since the Open era began in 1968. Federer looked shaky at the start of his match against Volandri, mistiming a series of backhands to drop serve in the third game before he broke back immediately and capitalised on the Italian’s mistakes to wrap up the first set in 36 minutes.Ferrero has beaten Federer twice in three previous encounters, though the Swiss triumphed in their last meeting at last year’s season-ending Masters Cup in China.The winner of the Ferrero-Federer match will have to meet either a resurgent Kafelnikov or the unheralded Mantilla in the final. Former world No 1 Kafelnikov has already accounted for 16th-seed Younes El Aynaoui and third seed Carlos Moya this week and against Verkerk on Friday, the 1996 French Open champion succeeded where fifth seed Andy Roddick failed by nullifying the the Dutch qualifier’s huge serve. (Reuters)
