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ROME: Roger Federer was made to work hard by giant Croatian Ivo Karlovic but he still qualified for the Rome Masters quarter-finals with a straight sets victory 7-6, 6-3 on Thursday.
The world number one will meet Radek Stepanek in the next round after the Czech knocked out Peruvian qualifier Luis Horna 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.
Federer may have won in straight sets but it was far from plain sailing in the early stages and he faced two break points in only his second service game.
He admitted afterwards that he found the Karlovic serve a tough one to master in the first set.
"It's unusual obviously. It's completely different to any other serve out there because of his size and he backs it up very well at the net," he said.
"He's a good net player, he puts a lot of pressure on you because he can hit all four corners very easily, it makes it hard to return against him."
The 12-time Grand Slam winner seemed to be getting the upper hand in the eighth game when he forced five break points but big serving from the six feet 10 inch Karlovic saved him on each occasion.
Federer had a chance to wrap up the set at 6-5 but the Croatian saved the break with yet another booming ace.
It was in the first set tie-break that Karlovic finally cracked as he was beaten by a stunning forehand return pass for 6-4 and then he netted a backhand to gift the Swiss master the set.
Federer gained an early break at 2-2 in the second, hitting a forehand winner on the line on his third break point having led 40-0.
Thereafter he had little trouble in serving out the match and even broke Karlovic again in the ninth game to keep on track for a possible semi-final meeting with Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic.
However, the Fed-Express said it was difficult to gage just how well he was playing after a match such as this.
"It's always hard to judge your game against Karlovic," he said. "You have to play a tactical game against him.
"I didn't go for my first serve that much, I tried to keep the ball in play and didn't chase the lines too much.
"So it's a different way of playing. I think tomorrow will be sort of similar but more baseline tennis.
"I know that Radek likes to take away the net so it's going to be interesting to see.
"I actually played him here in the past. I played a great game against him and I hope I can repeat the same form as I did when I played him here last time."
Federer won 6-1, 6-4 in the second round two years ago when he went on to reach the final only to lose a fifth set tie-break to Rafael Nadal.
The Swiss has a 4-1 winning record over Stepanek and 2-1 on clay, his only defeat coming over three sets in Gstaad back in 2002. - AFP/de
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