Wimbledon champion Roger Federer claimed his second victory in the space of five hours when he beat Radek Stepanek at the Swiss Open on Friday. The top seed won 6-1 5-7 6-4 to reach the last four where he will face Potito Starace, a shock winner over defending champion Jiri Novak.
Federer earlier saw off Ivo Karlovic 6-7 6-3 7-6 (7-4) in a rain-delayed second-round match.
Igor Andreev faces third seed Rainer Schuettler in Saturday's other semi.
Federer was pushed hard by Karlovic in his quarter-final but looked to be cruising through in his second match of the day against Stepanek.
 |  Six sets in one day is a lot - I just hope I can recover |
But the Swiss was broken to love when serving for the match in the second set and was forced into a third, this time making no mistake and serving out to love. And he admitted that playing two matches in one day had taken its toll.
"In the second against Stepanek my legs were tired, I was down and I just couldn't push myself like I had," said Federer.
"I was serving into the tape and not over it and he had confidence, and for five or 10 minutes the whole match changed and I just had to start from zero again.
"I feel exhausted now, very tired. Six sets in one day is a lot - I just hope I can recover."
Rising star Andreev became the first man to reach the semi-finals with a 6-3 6-4 win over Spain's Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo.
He was later joined by unseeded Italian Starace, who had a superb 6-4 6-3 victory over fourth seed Novak.
"I don't know what happened," said Starace, the world number 145.
"Two years ago, I was watching this tournament on television, now I'm in the semis. I'm so happy, I just can't believe it."
Germany's Schuettler secured a semi-final spot with a 6-1 4-6 6-2 defeat of Spain's Felix Mantilla.
MMIX
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