ROTTERDAM, Netherlands, Feb. 21 (UPI) -- Top seed Juan Carlos Ferrero and two-time champion Nicolas Escude suffered injuries Friday, but Roger Federer continued his hot streak to reach the semifinals at the ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament.
Ferrero owned a 2-1 lead over Rotterdam native Raemon Sluiter but was forced to retire with a twisted ankle. The injury came as the Spaniard was playing excellent tennis. He reached the final at Sydney to start the season and advanced to the quarterfinals at the Australian Open.
"It's difficult to accept because I was playing well here this week," Ferrero said. "I thought I had a lot of chances to win tonight's match. The last time I had an injury of this type was during Roland Garros last year. With the help of pain-killers, I was able to carry on and play through the pain."
Instead, Sluiter advanced to his first ATP semifinal since the Stella Artois Championships at Queen's last year. His only career final came in 2000 at Amsterdam.
"It was incredibly bad luck for Ferrero," Sluiter said. "I am very sorry about what happened to him. I would have loved to play the match in front of the home crowd."
Escude was locked in a battle with sixth-seeded French countryman Sebastien Grosjean when he had to quit. Escude split the first two sets, 7-5, 6-7 (3-7). The decisive set was tied, 4-4, when Escude, bothered by a strained right hamstring, retired.
Escude was hampered by the same injury last week in Marseille and pulled out of his semifinal match to save himself for his bid for a third straight crown here.
"Since the beginning of the tournament, I've been playing at around 50 to 60 percent and I still have managed to win two matches," he said. "It is very tough. I really like this tournament. I came here to win a hat trick. Once I knew I definitely wasn't able to win the tournament, I decided to retire from the match. Maybe I could have played through and won the match to reach the semifinals, but I am not here to just get that far -- I came here to win."
A quarterfinalist at the Australian Open in January, Grosjean will square off with Sluiter on Saturday.
Federer advanced to the semifinals in Rotterdam for the second time in three years with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands. He won last week's event in Marseille and has taken 13 of his last 14 matches.
"Now I am playing with a lot of confidence," the Swiss No. 1 said. "The further I go, the better I play. I'm definitely on a roll. I am not sure if I have had such a long winning streak before."
Federer next takes on Max Mirnyi of Belarus, a 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-4) winner over good friend and former champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia.
"It was a special match in so many different ways," Mirnyi said. "It special when you come to play a close friend. It will be the same tomorrow (against Federer). Yevgeny must have been tired having played his friend Marat (Safin) last night. It really is a battle of friends here."
The hard-serving Belarussian, who had not won consecutive matches this year before this week, advanced to his first semifinal since Los Angeles last July. Mirnyi faced Federer last year in the fourth round of the U.S. Open, winning in straight sets.
