Federer is felled in Rome
ROGER Federer's preparations for the French Open suffered a further blow when he was beaten in straight sets in the quarter-finals of the Rome Masters by unseeded Czech Radek Stepanek yesterday.
The world No1, struggling for consistency on clay ahead of the year's second grand slam event later this month, was the second big gun of the day to fall to an unseeded player after his Swiss compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka won an entertaining tussle with American James Blake 6-7, 7-6, 6-1.
The tournament had already lost world No2 Rafael Nadal on Wednesday and fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko on Thursday.
In Berlin, Russian Dinara Safina won a great scrap with fifth seed Serena Williams 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 to end the American's 17-match winning streak and reach the German Open semi-finals.
"I didn't play well today, in no way whatsoever," said Williams.
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Weather for Edinburgh
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 12 C to 21 C
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