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Julien Benneteau[Above] upset the sluggish Roger Federer 6-3, 7-5 on Friday to reach the semifinals of the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament.
Defending champion Federer struggled with his serve and the timing of his ground shots throughout the match and Benneteau capitalized, punishing Federer on his second serves, for his second victory over the Swiss master.
"It is one of the biggest wins, for sure," the 39-ranked Frenchman said. "To play against Roger, Friday night, full house, it's a dream and I played like in a dream."
The loss ended the top-seeded Federer's bid to become the first player to win the Rotterdam tournament three times.
It also gave Benneteau a measure of revenge for last year's Wimbledon, when he blew a two-set lead to lose to Federer, and the London Olympics, where Federer beat him 6-2, 6-2.
The Frenchman set the tone by breaking Federer in the match's first game, pouncing on a Federer backhand that hit the net to power a backhand pass down the line for the game.
He looked to have stumbled in the fourth game when he served two double faults to allow Federer to break back, but Benneteau broke again in the seventh and ninth games to take the set.
Read more http://espn.go.com/tennis/story/_/id/8951326/struggling-roger-federer-upset-rotterdam-quarters
