Federer appears to schedule a tournament like Estoril so he can build confidence playing decidedly weaker players.  It may be the only tournament of the year Federer enters with a draw this weak.  Federer played Doha, which is an ATP 250 event, but it typically draws stellar fields, such as Nadal and Davydenko, and, in the past, Andy Murray.

The field didn’t look too bad at the outset. After Federer, the next two seeds were Gael Monfils and Ivan Ljubicic.  But, neither appeared at the tournament having withdrawn due to injuries.  That left Albert Montanes, the fourth seed and defending champ, as the next highest seed.  Of the top 8 seeds, only Federer, Montanes, and Garcia-Lopez have reached the semifinals (Monfils and Ljubicic withdrew after the draw was made).

Despite this draw, Federer has played relatively lackluster tennis.  He has not shown any sustained moments of brilliance as he did in his run to the Australian Open title.  Federer beat Bjorn Phau, but was immensely helped by Phau’s erratic play and should have beaten him more easily.  Indeed, it seems one common theme among players ranked outside of the top 20 is a lack of consistency or a lack of a reliable weapon or both.  These weaknesses make it possible for a subpar Federer to still win comfortably.

Federer’s QF opponent was veteran, Arnaud Clement, who has seen his ranking higher in the past.  Given that he’s 32 years old, his rank of 83 is not too bad.  Unlike his countryman, Fabrice Santoro, Clement lacks any unusual playing style.  His look is his trademark: a bit Andre Agassi, with a bandanna around his head, and wrap-around sunglasses.  Clement has no huge weapons.  He can come to net; he can hit a ball back; he has the savvy of a veteran.  In other words, a guy that shouldn’t bother Federer much.

Even so, Federer found himself in a close first set that went to a tiebreak, one that even had set point to the Frenchman.  Clement was aggravated that a camera situated up high (to give an overhead view) had moved into sight, and claimed it was distracting him.  Indeed, he lost the first set tiebreak to Roger, 9 points to 7.

The second set went more Federer’s way, again due to a combination of Clement’s errors and the occasional good play by Roger.  Federer has been coming to net more and using the drop shot to win points, but he’s lacked the fearsome play that Nadal has brought back since he returned to clay.  Federer, of course, will profess that he’s playing fine, that there are a few more matches to play, that his first serve percentage was reasonable (60%), and he’s glad to move on.  Clearly, he has to get better if he wants to defend at Roland Garros.

Federer next plays Albert Montanes, the defending champ, in the semis.  In the other semifinals, Guillermo Garciz-Lopez will take on someone from Portugal, that player will be determined later today.  Frederico Gil takes on wildcard, Rui Machado, in the quarterfinals.  Both are Portuguese.  The tournament organizers must be thrilled to have local talent do well.  Federer practiced with Machado earlier in the week.

Two Spaniards in the semis seems par for the clay court course.  Add to that one Portuguese, and Roger.  Montanes will be a tougher battle for Federer, and he’s likely to play Garcia-Lopez in the final.  These are the kinds of players Roger needs to beat–the second tier clay court players.   Roger has always said he plays better as the tournament moves into the latter stages, so we’ll see if he ups his level to take on Montanes.

Over in Belgrade, the first of four semifinalists has been determined.  John Isner continues to play close matches and win them.  Although Querrey seems the more versatile of the two players, Isner seems to have two qualities that help him win more matches: he serves bigger on his own serve, and he seems mentally tougher.  Isner played Richard Gasquet, who still isn’t quite back to playing quality tennis ever since he was cleared of charges of using cocaine.

Gasquet won the first set easily, 6-2, but Isner kept it close in the second, fending off 3 break points and pushing the set into a tiebreak which Isner won 8-6.  Gasquet broke early in the third set, but then was broken himself twice in a row, with Isner serving out the set, 6-3.

Currently, Stanislas Wawrinka is playing Victor Troicki.  Wawrinka took the first set, 7-5.  Troicki took the second in a tiebreak, 7-6 (7 points to 3).  Troicki is one of three Serbs left in the Serbian Open.  The other two play in another quarterfinal.  Defending champ, Novak Djokovic, will play wildcard, Filip Krajinovic, an 18 year old player ranked 319, has been training at Bollettieri’s since he was 13.  He had a very good victory over Horacio Zeballos in the previous round, but the question is whether he can make a dent in Djokovic’s armor (unlikely).

Sam Querrey will take on Igor Andreev in the other quarterfinal.  Andreev is a tough customer on clay.  Querrey will have to serve well to win.

In Munich, the semifinalists are being determined.  Youzhny beat Hajek easily to move to the semi.  He will face German, Philipp Petzchner, who upset Tomas Berdych, the third seed, in 3 sets.  Baghdatis beat Kohlschreiber in straight sets, and will meet the winner of Cilic and Almagro.  Munich probably has the strongest draw of the three tournaments, although it lacks a “big” name like Federer at Estoril and Djokovic at Belgrade.  It’s also the tournament where the top seed is not a clear favorite to win the tournament.