Federer on fire, Nadal spoils Murray's birthday

By Kevin Fylan

HAMBURG, Germany (Reuters) - Holder Roger Federer coasted to a 6-3 6-2 win over Robin Soderling at the Hamburg Masters on Thursday before second seed Rafael Nadal gave Andy Murray a claycourt lesson for his 21st birthday.

Federer was barely made to sweat by the Swede and Nadal joined him in the quarter-finals of the 2.27 million euro (1.8 million pound) tournament by beating the 15th seed Murray by the same 6-3 6-2 scoreline.

"Nadal's forehand is the best shot in tennis," said Murray. "When you go behind against him on clay it's very hard to get back."

Third seeded Serb Novak Djokovic was well satisfied at coming through a bruising match with the Croatian Ivo Karlovic 7-6 6-3 but Nikolay Davydenko and David Ferrer fell to unseeded players.

Fifth seed Ferrer lost 7-6 6-2 against his Spanish Davis Cup team mate Fernando Verdasco before the fourth seeded Russian Davydenko fell 7-5 6-3 to Germany's Nicolas Kiefer in a match that brought the Hamburg crowd to their feet.

Murray has been working with twice French Open finalist Alex Corretja in a bid to improve his game on clay and the Briton did at least manage to put Nadal under pressure at times.

Nadal, playing with greater power and more consistency, took a 3-1 lead in the first set but had Murray taken one of two break points in game eight he might have got back into it.

Murray rallied to break Nadal at the start of the second set but the Spaniard simply raised his game to win it straight back and the rest of the match was a bit of a stroll.