Federer, Murray advance

---

INDIAN WELLS, Mar 20 (AP): Three-time champion Roger Federer downed Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 7-6 (5) Thursday night to move into the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open.
No. 2 Federer, who took the Indian Wells title three consecutive years beginning in 2004, next will play No. 4 Andy Murray. The 21-year-old Scot defeated Ivan Ljubicic 7-5, 7-6 (6) to run his 2009 match record to 19-1.
The other quarterfinals have No. 1 Rafael Nadal meeting No. 7 Juan Martin del Potro, and No. 3 Novak Djokovic, the defending champion, facing No. 7 Andy Roddick. Both those matches are Friday.
Federer overcame a lapse in the second set, when he lost a 4-2 lead and then allowed No. 10 Verdasco to break his service to take a 6-5 lead. But the Swiss star came back to break Verdasco in the following game, when Verdasco doublefaulted, hit a forehand long and a backhand long to lose three of the final four points.
Federer then built a 5-1 lead in the tiebreaker and finished it off with a service winner.
"It was difficult," Federer said. "I wasn't quite happy with the match, but for a while there, I actually was playing OK. I struggled with my rhythm on the backhand."
Verdasco said, "I think we didn't play our best tennis in any moment of the match. I didn't feel so good tonight. I also don't think he played his best tennis."
Murray, whose game appears to be getting better all the time, beat Ljubicic by simply keeping the ball in play. No. 4 Murray hit just 17 winners to 36 by his Croatian opponent, but made only 15 unforced errors to Ljubicic's 40.