ROME, May 9: World number one Roger Federer's hopes of winning his first Rome Masters were dashed on Friday when he was knocked out at the quarter-final stage 7-6 7-6 by unseeded Czech Radek Stepanek.

The top-seeded Swiss lost the first set in the tie-break and twice came back from a break down in the second before being undone in another tiebreak.

Federer's elimination follows world number two Rafael Nadal's shock second-round exit on Wednesday.