FED CRUISES

Defending champion Roger Federer breezed past Robin Soderling 6-3, 6-2 on Wednesday to reach the quarterfinals of the Hamburg Masters.

The top-ranked Federer is seeking his fifth title in Hamburg and will next play Fernando Verdasco, who upset fifth-seeded David Ferrer 7-6 (2), 6-2.

Federer lost in the Rome Masters quarterfinals last week to Radek Stepanek but has looked very comfortable in his first two matches in Hamburg, one of his favorite events.

Federer has only one title so far this year, at a relatively small clay-court tournament last month in Estoril, Portugal. He has a 24-6 match record.

He had won all five previous matches against Soderling, but three of them were tight. There was nothing close Thursday, with Federer hitting 24 winners compared to 10 unforced errors. Soderling was nearly the exact reverse, hitting 12 winners and 23 unforced errors.

Verdasco, ranked No. 28, reached his second quarterfinal of the year after Valencia, where he lost to Ferrer in three sets.

In other matches, Albert Montanes rolled past Janko Tipsarevic 6-2, 6-1 and Andreas Seppi upset 12th-seeded Juan Monaco 6-0, 6-3.