Roger Federer in action on Thursday

Hamburg: Holder Roger Federer continued his trouble-free progress at the Hamburg Masters with a 6-3, 6-2 win over unseeded Swede Robin Soderling on Thursday.

Novak Djokovic, the third-seeded Serb, joined the top seed in the quarter finals after winning a tough match with Croatia’s Ivo Karlic 7-6, 6-3 but fifth seed David Ferrer went out in an all-Spanish battle with Fernando Verdasco by losing 7-6, 6-2.

World No. 1 Federer was barely made to sweat with a second successive straight-sets win at the 2.27 million Euro ($3.52 million) clay-court tournament.

Djokovic, who is fast making up ground on Federer and Nadal, wasted an early break in the first set against the powerful Karlovic and almost paid the price.

Federer’s next opponent will be Verdasco after his surprise victory over Ferrer in the first match on centre court.

The Spaniard edged the first set 7-4 in the tiebreak and took a 4-1 lead in a second set that was tighter than the scoreline suggests, with Ferrer scrapping for everything.