Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic won to meet in the Rome Masters semifinals, while three-time champion Rafael Nadal loomed larger in the other half of the draw. Nadal cruised past eighth-seeded Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 6-3 improving to 8-0 against his fellow Spaniard, and will next face 12th-seeded Fernando Gonzalez, who struggled past Argentine qualifier Juan Monaco 2-6, 6-3, 6-4. Nadal and Gonzalez will face each other at Foro Italico for the third time in four years. Nadal won their 2006 quarterfinal and 2007 final. Federer put down net-charging left-handed German qualifier Mischa Zverev 7-6 (3), 6-2; and Djokovic stayed on course to defend his title with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over fifth-seeded Juan Martin del Potro. The fast clay at Foro Italico suits Federer and Djokovic. “I think both of us like it, so it's going to be interesting,” Djokovic said. “I feel quite confident playing here. Each match I play, I feel more comfortable moving on the court and just playing my style.” Federer has won seven of his 10 previous matches against Djokovic, but the Serb took the last meeting at the Masters in Key Biscayne, Florida, a month ago. “I hope I can play better than in Miami,” Federer said. For the second day in succession, Nadal was embroiled in a physical battle but once again his greater class told. Both he and Verdasco created six break-point opportunities but while he took four of his, his 25-year-old opponent managed only one successful conversion. “Yesterday I played really well but not today. In the second set I made a lot of mistakes,” said the 22-year-old Nadal, who took his winning run on clay to 28 matches. “The first set was OK but in the second I was a little bit lucky because he missed a lot of points.” Verdasco hit 20 winners to just six from Nadal but he hit a woeful 41 unforced errors compared to Nadal's 20. Pennetta stuns Jankovic In Stuttgart, Italian Flavia Pennetta caused an upset by beating third seed Jelena Jankovic 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the Stuttgart Grand Prix quarterfinals on Friday. The unseeded Pennetta's reward is a last-four meeting with Dinara Safina after the world number one swept aside Pole Agnieszka Radwanska 6-4, 6-2. Russian Safina, who went to the top of the rankings last week, dominated the eighth seed with a series of thunderous groundstrokes. Second seed Elena Dementieva went through with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 victory over Marion Bartoli of France. The Russian next meets countrywoman Svetlana Kuznetsova after the fifth seed overwhelmed Argentine Gisela Dulko 6-3, 6-2. Dementieva and Bartoli traded early breaks before the world number three started going to the net more often as she clinched the first set in 31 minutes. Bartoli produced some deft baseline play to break serve twice in the second. However, there was no looking back for Dementieva after she raced into a 4-0 lead in the deciding set.
