Federer moves on at Swiss Indoor semis

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BASEL, Switzerland -- Roger Federer beat Simone Bolelli of Italy 6-2, 6-3 Friday to reach the semifinals of the Swiss Indoors in his hometown.

The two-time defending champion delivered his most convincing performance of the week.

"I'm very satisfied by how it went," Federer said. "I tried to step up the pressure and so far that's worked well."

Federer will next play Saturday against Feliciano Lopez of Spain, who beat fourth-seeded James Blake of the United States 6-4, 7-6 (4).

Federer passed up three match points at 5-2 on Bolelli's serve, but served out a love game including two of his eight aces in the match.

Second-seeded David Nalbandian beat Benjamin Becker of Germany 7-6 (4), 6-4.

Nalbandian next plays fellow Argentine Juan Martin del Potro, who beat Russia's Igor Andreev 6-4, 7-5.

The 26-year-old Nalbandian, who won here in 2002, broke Becker to lead 3-2 in the second set.

"I think I played very well in the tiebreaker," Nalbandian said.

Nalbandian brushed aside suggestions that Saturday's match against Del Potro might be an opportunity to make up for last week's loss in Paris to his Davis Cup teammate.

Del Potro is currently ranked one point behind Nalbandian, but could overtake him if he wins the semifinal.

The 20-year-old Del Potro benefited from Andreev's many errors, breaking the Russian to go up 6-5 in the second set and then sealing the match with a backhand winner.

"Last week I beat him (Nalbandian) in a great match, and tomorrow I've got to be in good shape if I want to do it again," Del Potro said.

"My mind is good," he said. "I want to keep winning but my physique starts to feel tired. My tennis is going numb."

Lopez won the first set against Blake with an ace and took the second set tiebreaker with a backhand crosscourt shot.

"This one hurt," Blake said. "I had break points in three or four different games.

"I had a set point in the tiebreaker. If I expect to beat a lot of the guys out there I need to play well on those points and I didn't do it today."

Blake said he planned to "get right back on the horse and try to get ready" for Paris in order to reach the Masters Cup in Shanghai.