THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
OEIRAS, Portugal — Roger Federer struggled to dominate 146th-ranked Frederico Gil at the Estoril Open, finding his form late in the match to win 6-4, 6-1 and reach the semifinals of the clay-court tournament.
Staying mostly on the baseline, Federer was still plagued by the unforced errors that have dogged his performances in Portugal and was broken twice in an encounter that was interrupted by two rain delays.
Gil “played an excellent set-and-a-half,” Federer said. “Thank God I could use the rain delays to improve my level of play.”
Federer squandered a break point at 2-2 in the first set, and after the next game a downpour halted play for almost 40 minutes.
The Swiss then broke his opponent’s serve in the sixth game but Gil, who completed his rain-postponed second-round match earlier in the day, responded by breaking back right away. Federer broke Gil again to clinch the first set.
The two players traded breaks to start the second set, before another downpour suspended play, and Federer dominated the rest of the way.
In the women’s event, second-seeded Russian Maria Kirilenko trounced fifth-seeded Tathiana Garbin of Italy, 6-0, 6-1.
Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic upset eighth-seeded Camille Pin of France 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.