Federer stops Seppi to reach Hamburg final

HAMBURG, Germany, May 17 (Reuters) - Holder and top seed Roger Federer thumped unseeded Italian Andreas Seppi 6-3 6-1 in the semi-finals of the Hamburg Masters on Saturday.

The Swiss world number one was only once under pressure on his serve and closed out the win in 79 minutes on the red clay at the Rothenbaum.

Federer, with one title to his name this year, will face Spain's Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic of Serbia in Sunday's final. The second and third seeds play each other later on Saturday.

The Serb has won the Australian Open and two Masters Series already this year and will take over Nadal's number two world ranking if he wins.

Federer, 26, had played the 24-year-old Seppi once before, coming through a tight match at the Monte Carlo Masters last year in straight sets.

The Swiss, four times a winner in Hamburg, played some fabulous shots on Saturday, a drop-shot return and a whipped crosscourt forehand winner on the run the pick of the bunch.

He said he was very happy to be back in the Hamburg final with the French Open starting at the end of this month, the only grand slam he has failed to win.

"It was a long first set and maybe that wore him out a little bit and set it up for the second," Federer said at a news conference.

"Maybe I didn't serve my best today but I was very solid and consistent from the baseline and played a very good match."

The top-ranked Italian at number 43 in the world, Seppi came through a three-hour quarter-final against Germany's Nicolas Kiefer on Friday and was playing in his first Masters Series semi.

Nadal, a three-times French Open winner, has spent a record 147 weeks ranked second behind Federer dating back to July 2005.

He has won all three of his matches against Djokovic on clay, beating the Serb in straight sets in the semi-finals at Roland Garros last year. (Editing by Padraic Halpin and Clare Lovell)