Henin, Federer ease into semis

Top seed Justine Henin-Hardenne continued to steamroll her way through the Pacific Life Open draw, taking apart 17th seeded Argentine Gisela Dulko 6-3 6-2 in a one-sided quarter-final match.

The Belgian will face fourth seed Elena Dementieva, who overcame a terrible start before ousting Serbian teenager Ana Ivanovic 2-6 6-4 6-2 to reach the last four.

In the men's draw, two-time champion Roger Federer strolled into the semi-finals with a 6-2 6-3 win over sixth seed Ivan Ljubicic.

Federer will face a resurgent Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand, who downed Finland's Jarkko Nieminen 7-6 3-6 7-5 in two hours and 41 minutes to reach his first Masters Series semi-final since 2003.

Former world number one Henin-Hardenne, who has yet to drop a set in four matches, had few problems with the speedy Dulko, who she had never played before.

The Argentine tried to wear her opponent down by counter attacking, but the Belgian had far too much power and a few too many tricks up her sleeve.

Federer suffocated Ljubicic from the outset to record his sixth straight win over the Croatian.

The Swiss had little trouble in frustrating Ljubicic with his sublime placements of the ball.

"I consider myself a top-five player but that doesn't mean I'm close to Roger," world number six Ljubicic said.

"He's much better than me and anybody else except maybe Rafael Nadal, and he only gives him trouble because he's a lefty."

Federer will face Paradorn for a place in the final.

Last night, second seed Nadal faced 25th seed Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus in the quarter-finals, while 12th seed James Blake of the US was due to play 24th seed Igor Andreev of Russia.

Late result: Women's semi-final - M. Sharapova bt M. Hingis 6-3 6-3.