Federer makes it look easy

Roger Federer swept past Ivan Ljubicic 6-2, 6-3 to reach the semifinals and keep alive his quest for a third successive Pacific Life Open title on Thursday.

Last year, Federer also beat the Croatian in straight sets on his way to championship, but he had to win two tiebreakers in that fourth-round match.

Federer it look easy this time, controlling the match with his usual array of accurate shots and keeping sixth-ranked Ljubicic on the defensive and scurrying from side to side. Ljubicic had only one break chance, and Federer saved it.

Ljubicic made 24 unforced errors to 17 by Federer, the Swiss star who has been No. 1 since February 2004.

"Played him here last year and it was much tougher," Federer said. "So this was an excellent match for me, maybe the best of the season. I've had some good matches this year, too, but this was against a top-quality player.

"I thought everything I really wanted to work really worked. I had a great feeling out there."

The victory was Federer's ninth in 12 career matches against Ljubicic, and his sixth straight dating to a loss in 2003.

Ljubicic, off to the best start of his career this year, lost for only the third time in 23 matches, and he has won two titles. He was very gracious after his latest loss to Federer, the game's dominant player.

"I consider myself a top-five player in the world, which doesn't mean that I'm close to Roger," Ljubicic said. "I think he's really much better than I am, and probably anyone else."

Federer, whose two championships this year include the Australian Open for his seventh Grand Slam title, ran his 2006 record to 20-1.

He may have a chance to avenge his only loss in a few days: No. 2 Rafael Nadal, the 19-year-old Spaniard who beat him in the Dubai final this month, is on the other side of the men's bracket and the two could meet in tomorrow's final.

"The only player who can give him some trouble at the moment, it's Rafael Nadal," Ljubicic said. "I think just because he [Nadal] is a lefty, nothing else. When he [Federer] is on top of his game, there's no one out there who can give him any trouble. It depends mostly on him."

On the women's side, Elena Dementieva bounced back from a shaky start to take a 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory over 18-year-old Ana Ivanovic, from Belgrade.

"I just feel like I'm a very slow starter," Dementieva said. "I usually start to play well when I'm in trouble, like happened today when I was one-set, one-love down. I just started to play a little bit more aggressively.

"I have to learn how to do it from the beginning of the match so I can save some energy for the semifinal, for the final, and not spend so many hours on the court playing my first matches in the tournament."

Dementieva, from Moscow, moved into the tournament semifinals for the third time. She lost to Lindsay Davenport in 2000, and Kim Clijsters last year, with both Davenport and Clijsters going on to win the title.