Rotterdam, Netherlands, Feb 21: Top seed Roger Federer has been shown the exit door at the world indoor tournament on Friday while Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero survived two match points to reach the semi-finals. Riding into his quarter-final on a 16-match winning streak, Swiss Federer came unstuck against his nemesis Briton Tim Henman and lost 6-3 7-6 yesterday.
Henman's reward for handing the world number one his first defeat in almost four months was a last-four encounter against his own bogeyman, sixth-seeded Australian Lleyton Hewitt.
Second-seeded Ferrero, who was facing a Dutch opponent for the third day running, overcame a horrendous start to defeat Rotterdam-born Raemon Sluiter 1-6 6-4 7-6.
Wimbledon champion Federer had entered the Ahoy Centre Court with revenge on his mind as Henman had beaten him in five of their previous six meetings.
It was against Henman that Federer last tasted defeat in a competitive match, in October at the Paris Masters.
Since then Federer has triumphed at the Australian Open and climbed to the top of the tennis rankings.
After dumping Federer out of the event, Henman will have to deal with his own problems against Hewitt, who has beaten the Briton in all six of their matches.
Hewitt scraped into the semi-finals with a 7-6 6-3 win over third seed Rainer Schuettler.
The former Wimbledon champion, whose only defeat this year was to Federer in the fourth round of the Australian Open, ground out his victory in one hour 53 minutes after Schuettler faded in the second set following a fingernail injury. Bureau Report