Roger Federer in action on Friday

Monte Carlo: Roger Federer won his 500th career match on Friday, beating David Ferrer 6-4, 6-0 in the quarter finals of the Monte Carlo Masters.

“I am very happy to have done it here,” said Federer, who reached the final in Monte Carlo last year. “That is a lot of games. I’m glad they are victories.”

The 10-time Grand Slam champion has never lost a set to Ferrer in six matches.

“I am a bit surprised, because he is a very good player,” the world No. 1 said. “To beat him 6-4, 6-0 is really phenomenal.”

Czech Tomas Berdych came back from the brink of elimination to reach the semi-finals with a 5-7, 6-3, 6-0 victory over Swede Robin Soederling.

Following an exchange of breaks, Soederling took his opponent’s serve in the 12th game to clinch the opening set when Berdych sent a forehand wide.

The Swede opened a 3-0 gap in the second set before Berdych suddenly woke up and won 12 games in a row.

On Thursday, holder Rafael Nadal and Federer wasted no time in advancing to the quarter finals.

Spaniard Nadal, who extended his record winning streak on clay to 64 matches, took 62 minutes to demolish Belgian Kristof Vliegen 6-1, 6-1, while Federer eased past South Korean Lee Huyng-taik 6-4, 6-3 in 64 minutes to set up the encounter with Ferrer.

The 20-year-old Nadal next meets German qualifier Philipp Kohlschreiber, who beat another qualifier, Guillermo Garcia Lopez of Spain, 5-7, 7-6, 7-6.

Ferrer recovered from a sluggish start to knock out sixth seeded Serb Novak Djokovic 7-5, 6-4.

Former French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain defeated Russian Igor Andreev 6-3, 6-3 and will take on Frenchman Richard Gasquet, who battled two hours and 50 minutes to see off Croatian seventh seed Ivan Ljubicic 6-3, 6-7, 7-5.

Berdych fought back from a set down to advance with a 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory over fifth seeded Spaniard Tommy Robredo.

Soederling battled to a 7-6, 6-2 victory over Max Mirnyi of Belarus.