Federer digs deep to reach Hamburg semis

Roger Federer needed just under two hours to see off Germany’s Florian Mayer in three-sets on Friday to reach the semi-finals of the Hamburg claycourt tournament.

The Swiss top seed, playing his first tournament since his shock second-round exit at Wimbledon, dug deep to claim the third set for a 7-6 (7/4), 3-6, 7-5 quarter-final victory.

“I have only myself to blame,” said a disappointed Mayer.

“Roger wasn’t in his best form. I let a great chance off the hook and was almost afraid of winning against a big name.”

Federer has a 32-4 event record in Hamburg, where he won the title in 2002, 2004-05 and 2007, then finished runner-up in 2008 to Rafael Nadal.

The Swiss star will now face Argentinian qualifier Federico Delbonis in Saturday’s semi-finals.

German second-seed Tommy Haas made a quarter-final exit when he lost in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4, to Italian 12th-seed Fabio Fognini, who claimed his first ATP tournament win at Stuttgart last week.

Fognini will play third-seed Spaniard Nicolas Almagro, who beat fifth-seed Juan Monaco of Argentina 4-6, 6-0, 6-3 in just under two hours.