Federer through in Hamburg

Roger Federer won on clay - his least favourite surface Keystone

Switzerland's Roger Federer has qualified for the quarter-finals of the $2.8 million Masters Series tournament in Hamburg.

The Swiss number one beat Romania’s Adrian Voinea 7-5, 6-4 to set up a meeting with the tournament’s number two seed, Brazil’s Gustavo Kuerten.

Federer has now won three matches in succession on his least favourite surface – clay – having seen off Ecuadorean clay court specialist Nicolas Lapentti (ATP 29) on Tuesday, and the Czech Republic’s Bohdan Ulihrach (ATP 42) on Wednesday.

The Basel star played a solid match against Voinea (ATP 67), breaking his opponent’s serve at 5-5 in the first set. He then repeated the trick at 3-3 in the second set.

Before arriving in Hamburg, the 20-year-old Swiss – currently ranked 14th in the world – had suffered early exits from his two previous clay-court tournaments in Rome and Monte Carlo.

Doubts over Hingis

Meanwhile, there continue to be conflicting reports over whether Martina Hingis will be fit in time to play in this year’s French Open at Roland Garros, which kicks off on May 27.

The 21-year-old star, who has slipped to seventh in the women’s rankings, withdrew from this week’s Italian Open in Rome as well as last week’s German Open in Berlin.

Her manager Mario Widmer said on Wednesday Hingis would probably not be fit in time for the French Open – the only Grand Slam to elude her. Heinz Bühlmann, Hingis’s doctor, has said she could be out of action for two months, which would mean missing both Roland Garros and Wimbledon.

However, the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) said on Thursday that they were still expecting Hingis to play in Paris.

swissinfo with agencies