Third seeded Roger Federer takes on Italy’s Andreas Seppi in the quarter-finals of the Rome Masters 2012 on Friday.
Fresh from his Madrid Masters triumph last week, Federer received a bye in the first round of the competition. In the second, he was up against Argentina’s Carlos Berlocq and he ran off to a 6-3, 6-4 win before being stretched to three sets by Juan Carlos Ferrero.
The Swiss world number two won 6-2, 5-7, 6-1, to make it to the quarter-finals, where he faces Seppi.
Seppi, who had no such luxuries as a first-round bye, has spent much time on the court in this tournament. All his three wins have been in three-set matches including the third-round victory over Stanislas Wawrinka, which required three tie-breakers.
Earlier, he overcame Denis Istomin 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 and then defeated John Isner in the second round 2-6, 7-6, 7-5 to make it to the quarter-finals. He dropped the first set tie-breaker to Wawrinka before rallying back to win the remaining two tie-breaks and the match.
Federer and Seppi have played eight times against each other, of which three matches were on clay, and the Swiss player has won all times. Federer will be favourite to make it to the semi-final here.
The Federer v Seppi Rome Masters 2012 match will be played at the Centrale Court will not begin before 9 pm local time.
