MONTE CARLO, Morocco, April 20 (UPI) -- Roger Federer collected the 500th match victory of his career Friday, a win that moved him into the semifinals of the Monte Carlo Masters tennis tournament.
Federer, the No. 1-ranked player in the world, needed just 59 minutes to dump David Ferrer. He was dominant in the match, breaking Ferrer's serve six times and losing just 10 points in the second set. Federer is 500-127 in his career and 17-2 this year.
No. 2-ranked Rafael Nadal is as strong on clay and collected his 65th consecutive victory on clay courts in a 6-2, 6-3, victory over Philipp Kohlschreiber. Nadal has lost just 10 games in his Monte Carlo matches this year and is 17-1 all time in the tournament.
Nadal moves into Saturday semifinals against Tomas Berdych, who rallied for a 5-7, 6-3, 6-0 quarterfinal win over Robin Soderling. Federer's semifinal opponent is Juan Carlos Ferrero, who was down 1-4 in the second set before coming back to defeat Richard Gasquet 5-7, 7-5, 6-2.
Should Federer and Nadal win Saturday it would set up a championship rematch of a year ago when Nadal claimed a tough 6-2, 6-7 (2-7), 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) victory.
