World No. 1 Roger Federer and Nikolay Davydenko beat the rain to reach the semifinals of the Estoril Open clay court tennis tournament on Friday.

Roger Federer of Switzerland returns a shot to Frederico Gil of Portugal during their match at the Estoril Open tennis tournament in Lisbon April 18, 2008. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

Federer took advantage of two match interruptions caused by rain to beat Portuguese Frederico Gil 6-4 and 6-1.

"Gil played an excellent set and a half," said Federer. "Thank God I could use the rain delays to improve my level of play."

The 26-year-old Swiss will meet unseeded Denis Gremelmayr of Germany on Saturday.

In other match, Davydenko overcame Frenchman Marc Gicquel 6-4, 5-7 and 6-3 in two and a half hour.

"I was tired and really nervous because of the weather. Every point that I missed, every easy mistake, I was feeling more crazy," said Davydenko, the world number four and a winner in Estoril in2003.

He will play Florent Serra of France in Saturday's other semi-final.

(Agenices via Xinhua News Agency April 19, 2008)