The World No. 3 raced through the match in 58 minutes, hitting 31 winners and breaking the Frenchman three times from six opportunities. Federer faced down one break point in the final game and proceeded to clinch the victory with an ace. Gasquet, a finalist last week at the Estoril Open (l. to del Potro), had defeated Federer in two of their three previous clay-court meetings coming into Thursday’s match.
Federer has now reached the quarter-finals in all nine of his Madrid appearances. He won the title in 2006 on hard courts (d. Gonzalez) and in 2009 on the tournament’s transition to clay (d. Nadal). Should he reclaim the title this week, Federer will ascend to World No. 2, surpassing Rafael Nadal, who lost to Fernando Verdasco earlier Thursday.
"I played clean tennis even though I went for my shots," Federer told a news conference.
"Maybe I made a few too many unforced errors but that's due to the ball flying here and being tough to control," added the 30-year-old, who said he understood Nadal's frustration with the playing surface."
"But overall I think I played a smart match and served well when I had to and played well on the big points again which I am very happy about."
The 30-year-old Swiss will next face World No. 6 David Ferrer, whom he leads 12-0 in the FedEx ATP Head2Head. They have met four times on clay, most recently in the Madrid semi-finals two years ago.
Date: 10.05.2012, Source: ATP
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