. The Rangers had LW Chris Kreider in the lineup

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INDIAN WELLS, Calif. . -- Roger Federer beat Kevin Anderson 7-5, 6-1 in the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open on Thursday, continuing his strong play at the tournament where he has yet to drop a set in four matches. Anderson failed to break Federers serve in the match, which lasted just over an hour. The South African had 21 unforced errors, while Federer hit 17 winners and won 79 per cent of his first serve points. A four-time Indian Wells champion, Federer will play Ukraines Alexandr Dolgopolov in the semifinals. Dolgopolov beat Milos Raonic 6-3, 6-4. On the womens side, top-seeded Li Na beat Dominika Cibulkova 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 in a rematch of their Australian Open final. She next plays Flavia Pennetta, who defeated Sloane Stephens 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 in Thursdays other quarterfinal. Federer earned the only break in the first set in the last game when Anderson netted a backhand volley. The Swiss star then broke Anderson twice to take a 4-0 lead in the second set. Anderson did his best to trade groundstrokes with Federer while looking for an opening to rush the net, but the South Africans repeated errors spoiled his game plan. "It was big to win the (first) set and then to go on to break early in the second," Federer said. "Then double break was like a bonus. From then on I was home, basically. It was a really good match for me." Dolgopolovs win assured the Ukrainian of rising to a projected No. 23 in next weeks ATP Tour rankings. He has already made the biggest jump in the top 50 this year, moving up 26 spots to No. 31 before the tournament began. "Obviously if youre ranked 20, 30, 40 youre a good enough player. To get in the top 10 you just need all those small things to be together and to be solid," he said. "Its really small differences from the players that are top 10 and top 50." Dolgopolov improved to 6-2 against top-20 opponents this year, including his third-round win here over top-ranked Rafael Nadal. Li, who beat Cibulkova to win her second Grand Slam title in January, dropped her first set in four matches while improving to 15-1 this year. The Chinese star is seeded No. 1 for the first time at a larger WTA event. "Not like before if I come here, maybe like No. 6 or No. 7 seed," she said. "But I think I am handling very well, so just continue." Li rallied from a 5-1 deficit in the second set to close to 5-4 before Cibulkova called for her coach. After they huddled, the Slovak player held to even the match at a set apiece. They traded breaks to open the third. Cibulkova survived a service game that went to deuce seven times and staved off four break points to level the score at 2-all. Li swept the final three games, however, to seal the victory. "Im disappointed I didnt win because I had my chances," Cibulkova said. "My serve was just not there. Maybe I tried to go for too much. Her serve was much better than mine." Pennetta emerged victorious after a wildly uneven match affected by swirling winds in the third set from a dust storm outside the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. "The third was a disaster for both of us," Pennetta said. Stephens was the lone American woman left in the tournament, enjoying her best showing of the year so far. She appeared poised to move on after winning six straight games over the end of the second set and start of the third to take a 3-0 lead in the decider. But the Italian, who at 32 is 12 years older than Stephens, won six of the final seven games, breaking the American at love in one of those games. "I was trying to play in the middle of the court, but there was no one ball was in the middle, was always right or left," Pennetta said. No. 2 seed Agnieszka Radwanska and Simona Halep meet in the other womens semifinal Friday. . To make room on the 25-man roster, Toronto optioned right-handed reliever Chad Franklin to the International League farm team. Kratz will serve as a backup to Josh Thole. .C. -- Phil Mickelson spent five hours in the stifling heat Tuesday at Pinehurst No. . -- On an afternoon in which three Georgetown players fouled out and his team sent No.The Pittsburgh Penguins have taken control of their series with the New York Rangers, winning Game Four to push the Blueshirts to the brink. Notes on Crosby, Malkin, Nash and more. RANGERS REELING The Pittsburgh Penguins have been having their way with the New York Rangers and it continued in Game Four, with Pittsburgh winning 4-2 to take a 3-1 lead in the series. Through the first four games of this series, the Penguins have controlled play to a surprising degree, considering that the Rangers were a superior possession team during the regular season. In 5-on-5 score close situations against the Rangers, the Penguins are getting 59.5% of the shot attempts against the Rangers. Its hard enough to get the better of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, but if their team is dominating the puck, the hill gets awfully steep in a hurry. In Game Four, Crosby and Malkin, playing together, toyed with the Rangers, controlling better than 78% of the 5-on-5 shot attempts. Crosby contributed a couple of assists and Malkin had a goal and an assist to increase his team-leading playoff point total to 12 points in 10 games. Malkin only had three shots on goal, but had 13 attempts (six missed the net, four blocked). LW Chris Kunitz and defencemen Kris Letang and Paul Martin were also over 70% in terms of shot attempts. With Penguins D Brooks Orpik leaving after only 5:15 of ice time, Martin (30:05 TOI) and Letang (27:56 TOI) both logged heavy minutes. The mirror image, for the Rangers, is that Martin St. Louis, Carl Hagelin (who scored the Rangers first goal) and Brad Richards were getting worked, all on for 25% or less of the shot attempts. The Rangers had LW Chris Kreider in the lineup for the first time since March 24. . . He played 15:24 and was one of two Rangers to at least break even on shot attempts. The other Ranger with better than 50% Corsi in the game was the much-maligned Rick Nash, who led the Rangers with four shots on goal (and six attempts) but, for the eighth straight game, he was held without a point and has been a target for boos from the MSG faithful. Thats not unreasoanble, Nash has one goal in 23 playoff games with the Rangers over the past two seasons, yet over the past two regular seasons, hes scored 47 goals in 109 games -- his 0.43 goals per game in that span ranks 13th, between Joe Pavelski and Marian Hossa. Expectations are higher and the fact that the Rangers are unable to score, managing five goals in four games against Marc-Andre Fleury (not exactly the paragon of playoff goaltending in recent seasons), only serves to highlight Nashs playoff drought. It should go without saying that Nash generating as many shots as he is (a playoff-leading 45, with zero goals!) makes it likely that he will resume scoring soon but, for the Rangers sake, with time running out, it may not be soon enough. Fatigue, and a compacted schedule have been commonly cited reasons for the Rangers poor play in this series. Whatever the excuse might be, they are left without wiggle room now. They need to win three straight against the Penguins or they will have plenty of time to rest very soon. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. ' ' '