Federer eases into semi-finals

Tennis: World number one Roger Federer shrugged off the rain and the challenge of unseeded Portuguese player Frederico Gil 6-4 6-1 to reach the semi-finals of the Estoril Open clay court tournament this afternoon.

The 26-year-old Swiss, whose match was interrupted twice due to heavy rain, will next meet the winner of a match between unseeded players Denis Gremelmayr of Germany and Czech Jiri Vanek.

World number four Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, winner in Estoril in 2003, will meet number seven seed Marc Gicquel of France in the last eight later today.