Roger Federer was knocked out of the Estoril Open, after losing to defending champion Albert Montanes, 6-2 7-6 (7-5) in the semifinals of the Portugal tournament.

In the match had been delayed by over two hours due to torrential rain, Federer made 48 unforced errors.

“The conditions were extremely slow, but I don’t mind that,” said Federer. "I grew up with it in Switzerland, where we have a lot of rain.

“I’m disappointed to have played a match like this, where I got off to a bad start again. I didn’t play that badly in the second set, I had my moments but my movement was a little slow. I didn’t have confidence in my movement. I have put in a lot of work.”

Although he also lost to 40th-ranked Ernests Gulbis at the Rome Masters recently, he remained confident about his clay-court form.

“I’m not worried. It’s too far away. My goal isn’t to win 12 tournaments a year, it is the big events: the [ATP World Tour] Masters 1000s, the Grand Slams, [Barclays] ATP World Tour Finals and keeping the No. 1 ranking,” he said. “My decision to come to Estoril was the right decision. I would like to return again in future. I know that good things are around the corner.”


Federer is six weeks away from breaking Pete Sampras' all-time record of 286 weeks at No. 1.

“I’m lacking matches,” said Federer. “I’ll keep practising hard again. Conditions will speed up in Madrid and Paris [at Roland Garros]. I must take positives into the next few weeks.”

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Montanes will now face Portugal's Frederico Gil, who knocked out fifth-seeded Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 in two hours and 29 minutes on Centralito court.

Roger Federer upset in Estoril semis