Gstaad (Switzerland), July 11: After crossing a major threshold with his weekend Wimbledon title, Switzerland's Roger Federer got past a minor one as he blazed into the quarter-finals of the 550,000-Euro Swiss Open for the first time.
On his sixth try, the 21-year-old finally reached the last eight yesterday at his home tournament held on the fast, bouncy clay of this elite Alpine resort.
The top seed's 6-1 6-2 rout of 99th-ranked Frenchman Jean-Rene Lisnard put him into a match-up against Spain's David Sanchez, who knocked out three-time champion Alex Corretja, the veteran seventh seed, 6-4 6-4.
"It's quite special to get to the quarters, even after winning Wimbledon," said world number three Federer. "But I've been coming here for so long and I've finally done it."
The Swiss player dominated on a hot, sunny day at altitude, going through in 54 minutes for his 52nd win of a season in which he has already taken five titles.



Federer said he's a changed man after his nervous start on Tuesday, when - due to the post-Wimbledon high - he needed three sets to subdue Spanish qualifier Marc Lopez.



"I'm much more relaxed now and my body is feeling better. I'm better mentally. I'm also happy to have won easily. I did everything the way i should have today."



Australian Open finalist Rainer Schuettler kept up his storming pace this season.


Bureau Report