World No. 1 superstar Roger Federer suffered a quarterfinal setback Friday at the hands of gritty Czech Radek Stepanek at the $3.5 million Italian Masters. Meanwhile, former top-ranked star Andy Roddick avoided an upset in order to reach Saturday's semifinals at this clay-court French Open tuneup.
The 27th-ranked Stepanek stunned the top-seeded Federer in straight sets in a pair of tiebreaks, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (9-7), at Foro Italico. Federer was the runner-up at this event in 2003 and 2006.
Stepanek pulled off the upset in 1 hour, 55 minutes with the help of eight aces and a pair of service breaks.
The 29-year-old Stepanek is now 2-4 lifetime against Federer, who had won their previous four meetings, including a third-round one here in 2006.
The 12-time Grand Slam champion Federer dropped to 22-6 this season and has captured only one title in seven tournaments thus far in 2008.
A sixth-seeded Roddick avoided an upset by outlasting 14th-seeded Spaniard Tommy Robredo 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7-4) in 2 hours, 13 minutes. The massive-serving American, who fired 11 aces and piled up seven double faults on Day 5, improved to 24-4 this year, including a pair of titles.
Up next for Roddick will be Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka, who recorded an upset by besting eighth-seeded American James Blake 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-5), 6-1. Wawrinka will break into ATP's top-20 as a result of his semifinal appearance here.
This week's winner will take home $558,000.
