Federer beats Llodra to reach quarterfinals at Toronto; Soderling, Davydenko ousted

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Federer advances to quarterfinals at Toronto

TORONTO — Third-seeded Roger Federer advanced to the quarterfinals of the Rogers Cup tennis tournament with a 7-6 (2), 6-3 victory over Michael Llodra of France on Thursday.

Federer, who won here in 2004 and 2006, needed 1 hour, 19 minutes to complete the victory. He will next play No. 7 seed Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, who edged Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-4.

Top-seeded Rafael Nadal of Spain, second-seeded Novak Djokovic of Serbia and fourth-seeded Andy Murray of Britain also posted victories to move on to the final eight.

Llodra even picked up a souvenir after shaking hands with the two-time champion, asking Federer for his pink tennis shirt.

“Roger is a legend,” Llodra said. “It’s a good present for my kids.”

In the second set, Llodra tried to throw Federer a curveball. A rare underhand serve.

“It’s the first time I got an underarm serve,” Federer said with a laugh. “The third time somebody asked me for the shirt.”

Llodra put spin on it, causing the ball to go sideways when it hit the court. Federer seemed ready to swat a forehand winner but instead barely got his racket on the ball, sending it well wide.

“I just wanted to make something special,” Llodra said.

Federer appeared comfortable throughout the match. He said he enjoyed the change of pace.

“This is how (the game) used to be played,” Federer said. “You rather hit a volley than a passing shot. And he’s a good volleyer, a good athlete at the net and that’s why you want to try to move forward early on in the point.”

The top two seeds posted straight-set victories as Djokovic downed Victor Hanescu of Romania 6-3, 6-4 while Nadal beat South African qualifier Kevin Anderson 6-2, 7-6 (6).

Murray held off Gael Monfils of France 6-2, 0-6, 6-3 to set up a quarterfinal with Argentina’s David Nalbandian, who stretched his winning streak to 11 matches with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory over fifth-seeded Robin Soderling of Sweden.

“He’s a very, very good player,” Murray said of his next opponent. “On his day, one of the best in the world. It’s going to be tough.”

Jeremy Chardy of France scored an upset with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over sixth-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko and Germany’s Phillipp Kohlschreiber defeated Yen-hsun Lu of Taiwan 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-0.

Chardy will play Djokovic in the next round while Kohlschreiber will Nadal.

Note: Federer said on one occasion, a player asked for his shirt while they were in an elevator after a match in Bangkok. “No problem,” Federer said. “Whoever asks, I give it.”