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Czech Radek Stepanek (left) earns his victory over Federer during their ATP Tennis Open in Rome. -- PHOTO: AFP
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ROME - ROGER Federer's preparations for the French Open suffered a further blow when he was beaten in straight sets in the quarter-finals of the Rome Masters by unseeded Czech Radek Stepanek on Friday.
Stepanek, who did a caterpillar dance on the clay in celebration, will face Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic after Spain's Nicolas Almagro withdrew from their quarter-final with a wrist problem with the score at 6-1 1-0 to the Serb.
World number one Federer, struggling for consistency on clay ahead of the year's second Grand Slam later this month, was the second big gun of the day to fall to an unseeded player after his Swiss compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka won an entertaining tussle with American James Blake 6-7 7-6 6-1.
Wawrinka will meet Andy Roddick in the semis after the American sixth seed pulled out some massive serves in a final-set tiebreaker on the way to beating Spain's Tommy Robredo 6-3 4-6 7-6. - REUTERS
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