Patchy Federer does enough

Federer seemed to be cruising to victory as he played solid if unspectacular tennis to win the first set with two breaks to love, with Ferrer, who had never previously taken a set off the world number one, offering little resistance

Federer was also 4-2 in the second set but never looked comfortable as he was broken an incredible four times by Ferrer who grew in confidence as he increasingly saw wild shots coming back at him from Federer.

The Swiss world number one managed to steady himself at the start of the final set as he won his first game in five, but Ferrer was still on top of his game too as the match started to develop on serve.

However, in a long eight game of the set - Federer finally found a break - on what was his fifth break point of the game.

He then managed to close out the match with a hold to love, but he will be disappointed that he could not replicate the fine form he showed against Juan Carlos Ferrero yesterday, as question marks once more surround his play on clay.

Next up for Federer will be Carlos Moya, who booked his first appearance at a Masters Series semi-final since 2004 with a 7-6 4-6 7-5 victory over fourth seed Novak Djokovic.

Neither player ever took control in a match that lasted two hours and 40 minutes, but the Spaniard just had enough to stumble over the line as Djokovic started to tire while playing what was his eight set in two days.

World number two Rafael Nadal also qualified for the last eight with a gritty 6-4 6-4 victory over Fernando Gonzalez.

Chilean Gonzalez threw everything at his Spanish opponent, yet succumbed to the slightly-superior technique of Nadal in the first set before giving up a second service game in the subsequent one with his only double-fault.

His fight-back was inspired, yet the Mallorcan responded with fire of his own to go through.

Nadal will face Lleyton Hewitt after he beat Nicolas Almagro 6-3 6-4.