Ferrer wins Spanish duel with Ferrero in Monte Carlo

MONTE CARLO, Apr 20 (Reuters) David Ferrer battled past Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-1 7-6 6-3 in an all-Spanish baseline duel to reach the last eight of the Monte Carlo Open today.

Ferrer, seeded eighth, eased through the first set in 24 minutes before 11th seed Ferrero, winner of the tournament in 2002 and 2003, clinched the second set 7-5 in the tiebreak.

The 2003 French Open champion could 0not match Ferrer's powerful ground strokes in the third set. He saved a match point at 5-2 before winning the game, but still bowed out on Ferrer's serve after two hours 21 minutes.

In the quarter-finals, Ferrer should face world number one Roger Federer who was playing Monaco qualifier Benjamin Balleret later in the day.

The Swiss swept the Spaniard aside 6-1 6-4 in the semi-finals of the Nasdaq-100 Open in Miami three weeks ago.

Reuters DH GC1705