Federer into Halle quarters

Halle - Five-time Halle champion Roger Federer cruised into the quarter-finals of this year's edition with a 6-4, 7-5 win over Germany's Florian Mayer on Thursday.

Federer, who missed last year's tournament, needed just 74 minutes to see off Mayer.

The Swiss star, who was champion in Halle in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2008, was playing his first match since losing to Novak Djokovic in the French Open semi-finals.

"I'm very happy with the way things went today. I obviously knew playing against Mayer in the first round was going to be tricky," said Federer.

"He's in the top 30 and has been to the quarter-finals of Wimbledon. And I've played him here on grass before, so I know how tough he can be."

World No 3 Federer will tackle Canadian fifth seed Milos Raonic on Friday for a place in the semi-finals of this Wimbledon tune-up event.
 
Results from the fourth day of the ATP grasscourt tournament on Thursday (x denotes seeded player):

Second round

Rafael Nadal (ESP x1) bt Lukas Lacko (SVK) 7-5, 6-1
Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER x8) bt Lukasz Kubot (POL) 6-7 (5/7), 6-1, 6-3
Tommy Haas (GER) bt Marcel Granollers (ESP x6) 6-3, 6-4
Roger Federer (SUI x2) bt Florian Mayer (GER) 6-4, 7-5