(updates with Federer win)
MONTE CARLO, April 20 - World number one Roger
Federer cruised into the Monte Carlo Open quarter-finals on
Thursday, ending the adventure of hometown qualifier Benjamin
Balleret 6-3 6-2.
"I did what I could and never felt ridiculous but it was a
bit difficult at the end," Balleret said.
The Swiss top seed's next opponent will be eighth seed David
Ferrer of Spain who battled past 11th seed Juan Carlos Ferrero
6-1 6-7 6-3 in an all-Spanish baseline duel.
Ferrer and Federer met in the semi-finals of the Nasdaq-100
Open in Miami three weeks ago. The Swiss swept the Spaniard
aside 6-1 6-4.
In the surprise result of the day, 15th seed Tony Robredo of
Spain defeated third seed David Nalbandian of Argentina 5-7 6-1
7-5 after more than three hours on the clay court.
Croatian fourth seed Ivan Ljubicic dispatched Gilles Simon,
the last French hope, 6-3 6-2. The result means that France will
not have a player in the Monte Carlo quarter-finals for the
second time in 10 years.
Balleret recorded the win of his life in the second round
when he ousted Sebastien Grosjean, France's number one and the
13th seed.
Grosjean retired with a back injury when Balleret was
leading 4-6 7-5 3-2. He was rewarded by a match against Federer
who took only 55 minutes to win.
"It was a fabulous experience," the 23-year-old said. "It's
even better because I have the feeling that Roger didn't take me
lightly and played his real game."
SPANISH DUEL
Ranked 351 in the world, Balleret was playing in his first
ATP tournament after coming straight from the Futures circuit,
two levels below.
Son of a former French Fed Cup player Alexia Dechaume and of
tennis coach Bernard Balleret, he was two points away from
losing in the first round of the qualifying tournament.
"I was hoping to go through the first qualifying round. I
proved to myself I could make it if I worked hard enough in
training. I hope it will go on," he said.
The match against Ferrer was yet another disappointment for
Ferrero, who is still struggling to recover the form which took
him to the French Open title and the number one spot in 2003.
After losing the first set in 24 minutes, the 26-year-old
Spaniard, winner in Monte Carlo in 2002 and 2003, clawed his way
back into the match, clinching the second set 7-5 in the
tie-break.
In the third set, he could not match Ferrer's powerful
ground strokes and bowed out after two hours 21 minutes on his
opponent's second match point.