Federer suffers early Rome exit

by Amy Judd | May 9, 2008 at 12:47 pm

860 views | 0 Recommendations | 11 comments

Roger Federer, currently ranked number one in the world, is out of the Rome Masters tournament, after a surprise defeat at the hands of Radek Stepanek in the quarter-finals.

Federer lost 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (9-7), his sixth defeat of an inconsistent season.

Third seed Novak Djokovic qualified for the semi-finals after his Spanish opponent, Nicolas Almagro, retired with a wrist problem.

Stanislas Wawrinka beat James Blake to reach his first Masters semi-final, where he will play Andy Roddick.

Wawrinka followed up wins over Andy Murray and Juan Carlos Ferrero with a 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (7-5) 6-1 defeat of Blake.

The Swiss number two, who made the last four in Barcelona last week, will face Roddick after the American beat Tommy Robredo 6-3 4-6 7-6.

Australian Open champion Djokovic cantered through the first set 6-1 against Almagro and broke the Spaniard in the first game of the second, prompting him to throw in the towel.

But the main focus of attention was on the latest defeat for Federer, who had won four of his previous five meetings with Stepanek.

With the French Open two weeks away, the defeat is a blow to Federer's hopes of claiming the only Grand Slam title to elude him.

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Lina1227

at 14:42 on May 9th, 2008

This was taken at the 2008 Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. Great tennis! Enjoy the photos

Lina1227 has contributed a photo to this story.

tlaenPix

at 14:45 on May 9th, 2008

Roger Federer in Miami at the Sony Ericsson Open 2008

tlaenPix has contributed a photo to this story.

mgthompson

at 04:54 on May 10th, 2008

Roger Federer practices at the 2008 Australian Open

mgthompson has contributed a photo to this story.

meunierd

at 05:41 on May 10th, 2008

Tank for you appreciation, this picture come from the master series 2007 a Montreal.

meunierd has contributed a photo to this story.

jtbarrett

at 08:49 on May 10th, 2008

Here's hoping Roger can bounce back from this clay-court loss and finally take the title at Roland Garros.

The picture you've requested was from his appearance at the Cincinnati Masters last year, which became his 50th career title.

jtbarrett has contributed a photo to this story.

luix_view

at 12:12 on May 10th, 2008

This photo was taken at the Estoril Open in Portugal won by Roger Federer after Nikolay Davydenko's quits due to injury.

luix_view has contributed a photo to this story.

chung_tourguide

at 14:48 on May 10th, 2008

good back hand slice

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atolkachev

at 16:24 on May 10th, 2008

Federer at the Pacific Life Open 2008

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Marylou Badeaux

at 16:36 on May 10th, 2008

Australian Open 2008. Federer against Santoro in a typical and beautiful Federer win. They truly enjoyed playing against one another, with Federer jumping the net to hug his opponet after beating him!

Marylou Badeaux has contributed a photo to this story.