Federer will play defending champion Montanes on Saturday

Number one seed Roger Federer booked his place in the last four at the Estoril Open with a 7-6 (9-7) 6-2 win over Frenchman Arnaud Clement.

The Swiss star stuttered in the first set and found himself 2-0 down before recovering the break and edging out the world number 83 in the tie-break.

Federer began the second set far better, breaking the Frenchman early before seeing out the victory.

He now faces defending champion, Spaniard Albert Montanes.

The number four seed beat Pablo Cuevas 6-4 6-3, while fifth-seeded Guillermo Garcia-Lopez also reached the semi-finals after Alberto Martin retired with the score at 6-0 2-0.

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Federer admitted he was not at his best against Clement.

"I got off to a bad start in the first game, down love-30, he played a great passing shot to start.

"I looked for my forehand too much. The next thing you know, you are down love-40. He got me on the back foot and I had to play careful.

"I missed some chances and made too many mistakes in the first set.

"It was not beautiful tennis from my side."

Federer lost his first match of the year on clay to Latvia's Ernests Gulbis in the Rome Masters on 27 April.

The Swiss won the Estoril tournament on his one previous appearance in 2008, beating Nikolay Davydenko in the final.

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