Federer nabs epic milestone

SHANGHAI — With another win at the Shanghai Masters, Roger Federer guaranteed himself the No. 1 ranking for the 300th week of his career.

The top-ranked Federer beat Davis Cup teammate Stanislas Wawrinka 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-0 Thursday in the third round of the Shanghai Masters.

Federer struggled to string points together early, with his backhand looking shaky through much of the first two sets, but he recovered late and advanced to the quarterfinals.

"It's obviously an amazing number and I never thought of anything like this when I was a little kid," Federer said. "I just thought one day my dream would come true to play on the tour.

"So here I am at 300 weeks, and it's probably one of my biggest accomplishments and something I'm very proud of. No doubt about it."

It was looking dismal for Federer as he struggled to string points together through the first two sets. His backhand also looked shaky.

"I just keep on trying," Federer said. "I knew I had a chance going into the breaker and I was just a little lucky. But I never stopped believing.

"But he was the better player for two sets. It was great finding a way out."

Federer will play 10th-seeded Marin Cilic in the quarterfinals after the Croat beat Fernando Verdasco of Spain 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.

Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray also reached the quarterfinals. Djokovic defeated Feliciano Lopez of Spain 6-3, 6-3, and Murray beat Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine 6-2, 6-2.

Murray will play unseeded Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic. Stepanek upset eighth-seeded John Isner 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3.

The second-seeded Djokovic had 12 aces and won 27 of 29 first-serve points. The third game of the second set was the only time in the match that the Serb lost two points on serve.

"I'm trying to enjoy the efficiency of my serve," said Djokovic, who had three aces in one game in the first set.

"I'm not very well known around the tour for big serving. But so far in this tournament, and also in Beijing, it has been working very well for me. It has been giving me a lot of free points, a lot of confidence into the matches."

Defending champion Murray, 25, proved far too strong for Ukraine's Alexandr Dolgopolov, serving consistently well and seizing on five out of six break point opportunities to win 6-2, 6-2 in just 57 minutes.

It was the first match of the tournament for the Scot, who had a walkover into the third round. The top eight seeds received a first round bye.

Fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus 6-2, 7-6 (7-2) and will next play Czech fourth seed Tomas Berdych, who fended off a barrage of 17 aces from American Sam Querrey to win 6-2, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4.

German veteran Tommy Haas, 34, who reached a career high of No. 2, beat Serbian sixth seed Janko Tipsarevic 6-2, 6-1 and will provide a tough test for Djokovic in the last eight.

SHANGHAI AFP- — World No. 3 Andy Murray says he's not much of a reader despite hours to kill on the grueling tennis tour, revealing he gave up halfway through his last book . . . Harry Potter.

The Scot, whose U.S. Open win last month gave Britain its first Grand Slam men's champion since the 1930s, was speaking after Novak Djokovic professed a hankering for the delights of university life, saying he was a keen reader.

"I don't read books. I mean, I go on the Internet a lot and read stuff online, but I don't read books. I haven't read a book since I was about 14, 15," said the 25-year-old Murray, defending champion at the Shanghai Masters.

"I got halfway through the third Harry Potter book. It was the first one that was really, really big. It was like 600 pages. I stopped around 200. I haven't read a book since then."

Multilingual world No. 2 Djokovic, also 25, said earlier this week he had missed out on a normal education, adding that despite all the travel, chances to soak up new experiences were limited.

OSAKA — Misaki Doi advanced to her first semifinal on the WTA Tour with a 2-6, 6-1, 6-3 win in her Japan Women's Open quarterfinal match against Chanelle Scheepers on Friday afternoon.

Doi, whose best result on tour so far had been a quarterfinal berth at Birmingham, England, this summer, defeated the seventh seeded South African in 1 hour, 37 minutes. Doi, ranked 123rd in the world, was helped along by five double faults by the 58th-ranked Scheepers.

Doi will now face Britain's Heather Watson, ranked 71st in the world, in the semifinals. Watson advanced with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over France's Pauline Parmentier at Utsubo Tennis Center.

Doi, 21, did not take a set from the 20-year-old Watson in either of their two career matches.

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