Wednesday, 2 April, 2008

Roger Federer remains on course for his first title of 2008 after defeating unseeded Jose Acususo to reach the quarter-finals of the Sony Ericsson Open.

The Swiss top seed defeated Argentinian Acasuso 7-6 (7/5) 6-2 on Tuesday in one of eight fourth-round matches at the hardcourt event.

Next up for Federer will be American Andy Roddick, who rallied for a 4-6 6-3 6-2 victory over France's Julien Benneteau.

Second seed Rafael Nadal, who lost to Federer in the 2005 final, also advanced to the quarter-finals when he defeated 15th-seeded Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4 6-4.

Ninth-seeded American James Blake claimed a 6-3 6-4 win over Radek Stepanek.

Roddick, who made headlines of his own Monday by announcing his engagement to swimsuit model Brooklyn Decker, won here in 2004.

Making his ninth straight appearance, he will have to overcome long odds against Federer, who is 15-1 in their all-time series.

World number one Federer has not gone this far into a season without winning a championship since 2000 - the last year he failed to win a title.

Fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko, competing in Key Biscayne for the seventh time, seeks his first quarter-final appearance here when he faces unseeded Croat Mario Ancic.

Davydenko hopes to join fellow Russian Igor Andreev, who advanced with a 6-4 7-6 (8-6) win over Canas, but Dmitry Tursunov failed to move through as 10th-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych claimed a 6-2 6-2 win in their fourth-round match.

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