SHANGHAI: Roger Federer routed No. 5-ranked Robin Soderling 6-1, 6-1 in the Shanghai Masters quarterfinals Friday. Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray also cruised into the semifinals, while unseeded Juan Monaco of Argentina took nearly three hours to oust Jurgen Melzer of Austria, who beat top-ranked Rafael Nadal Thursday. Federer and Djokovic will meet Saturday for the 17th time, and the first since their stunning US Open semifinal when Djokovic saved two match points in a five-set victory. Federer, who barely missed Friday, punctuated his 54-minute performance with a Pete Sampras-like jumping smash after Soderling tried to flick a lob over him. No. 2-ranked Djokovic beat the in-form Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-2, 6-3. No. 4 Murray handled an error-prone Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-2, 6-2 in 55 minutes. The Scot dominated his opponent with a combination of big serves and delicate drop shots - with the exception of one from the baseline that bounced well before reaching the net. He broke the 12th-seeded Frenchman four times and only lost eight points on his serve. Tsonga, who recently returned to the tour after a three-month injury layoff, struggled to keep the ball in play, making 21 unforced errors and five double faults. He's lost seven of his last eight matches against top 10 players. Murray, who only last week rebounded from an illness that had dogged him since the US Open, will face Monaco, who outlasted Melzer 6-7 (6), 7-5, 6-2 a week after losing to the Austrian in Tokyo. Melzer was almost flawless in upsetting Nadal, but against Monaco he hit 57 unforced errors and dropped serve seven times. Monaco was through to his first semifinals since February. After the French Open, he was off for three months with a left wrist injury and ended a five-match losing streak on tour this week. Date Krumm ousts Stosur In Japan, Kimiko Date Krumm became the first 40-something to beat a top-10 player on the WTA Tour when she ousted No. 8-ranked Samantha Stosur 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (4) in the Japan Women's Open quarterfinals Friday. In the semifinals, she'll meet third-seeded Shahar Peer of Israel, who cruised past seventh-seeded Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-0 in 54 minutes. Second-seeded Marion Bartoli of France coasted to a 6-1, 6-2 win over Jill Craybas of the US and will face another unseeded player, Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand. Tamarine beat Taiwan's Chang Kai-chen 6-3, 2-6, 6-4. Schnyder downs Hantuchova In Austria, Patty Schnyder beat second-seeded Daniela Hantuchova 6-4, 6-4 Friday to advance to her third semifinal of the season at the Generali Ladies. Schnyder plays Germany's Andrea Petkovic for a place in Sunday's final. In the other semifinal, seventh-seeded Ana Ivanovic, who defeated Julia Goerges of Germany 7-6 (6), 6-2 will take on Roberta Vinci, who rallied to beat fellow Italian Sara Errani 5-7, 6-3, 6-4. Ivanovic, who won the event in 2008, squandered a 5-2 lead and had to save a set point in the tiebreaker before finally taking the opening set. The Serb broke serve twice in the second to comfortably wrap up the victory and set up a match against the 46th-ranked Vinci, who came back from a break down in the decider to beat Errani. Earlier Friday, Petkovic beat Greek qualifier Eleni Daniilidou 6-3, 6-2 for her fourth semifinal of the season. ATP may shorten tour The ATP Tour says it may shorten its 11-month season by two or three weeks in 2012 and 2013 to give players more time to rest and help them avoid injuries and burnout. The ATP board of directors will meet during the ATP Tour World Finals in London next month to vote on schedules for the 2012 and 2013 seasons. Some of the proposals being considered would shorten the calendar by two or three weeks. The top players have advocated for a shorter tournament calendar for years.
