April 03, 2008	Thursday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 25, 1429

MIAMI (Florida), April 2: World No 1 Roger Federer rolled over unseeded Jose Acasuso 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 in a fourth-round match at the Sony Ericcson hardcourt tournament on Tuesday.

The top seeded Swiss star has not gone this deep into a season without winning a championship since 2000 — the last year he failed to win a title.

Winning in Miami would be nothing new to Federer, who claimed back-to-back titles at this men’s and ladies’ tournament from 2004-05.

The 26-year-old reached the fourth round here last year, but was upset by Guillermo Canas.

“Now I feel like I’m playing well,” said Federer who faces American Andy Roddick in the quarter-finals. “You can tell, as well, I’m moving well and playing well and serving well. That’s what it comes down to for me.”

Second seed Rafael Nadal, who lost to Federer in the 2005 final, also reached the quarter-finals on Tuesday by beating 15th-seeded Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4, 6-4.

The Spaniard owns a commanding 8-0 lead in the all-time series against Mathieu, who retired from their match at the Australian Open in January. Like Federer, Nadal has yet to win on tour this season.

Ninth-seeded American James Blake is through to the quarter-finals after claiming a 6-3, 6-4 win over No 27 Radek Stepanek.

Roddick will join his compatriot in the last eight. Roddick struggled in the first set before rallying to beat unseeded Frenchman Julien Benneteau 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Roddick is facing a monumental task as he has lost 15 of his career 16 meetings with Federer.

Russia’s Dmitry Tursunov failed to move through as 10th-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych claimed a 6-2, 6-2 win in their fourth-round match.

On the women’s side of the draw, Svetlana Kuznetsova spoiled the prospect of an all-Williams semi-final.

Hours after Serena Williams was victorious in her quarter-final, Kuznetsova defeated Venus Williams 6-4, 6-4.

The Russian held serve throughout the first set, winning all 14 of her first-serve points. Tied at 3-3 in the second set, Kuznetsova broke Williams to go up 4-3 and ended up serving out for the match.

Younger sister Serena had held up her end of the bargain earlier on Tuesday with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over top seed and world No 1 Justine Henin.

Henin had won three straight in the series against Serena – claiming quarter-final victories at Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open - but was outplayed by the American.

Serena captured three breaks in each set of the 80-minute match.

Tuesday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Men’s singles:

Fourth round: 2-Rafael Nadal (Spain) bt 16-Paul-Henri Mathieu (France) 6-4, 6-4; 9-James Blake (US) bt 27-Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic) 6-3, 6-4; 31-Igor Andreev (Russia) bt 15-Guillermo Canas (Argentina) 6-4, 7-6 (8-6); 10-Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) bt Dmitry Tursunov (Russia) 6-2, 6-2; 1-Roger Federer (Switzerland) bt Jose Acasuso (Argentina) 7-6 (7-5), 6-2; 4-Nikolay Davydenko (Russia) bt Mario Ancic (Croatia) 4-6, 6-3, 7-5; Janko Tipsarevic (Serbia) bt 11-Mikhail Youzhny (Russia) 3-6, 6-0, 6-3; 6-Andy Roddick (US) bt Julien Benneteau (France) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2

Women’s singles:

Quarter-finals: 8-Serena Williams (US) bt 1-Justine Henin (Belgium) 6-2, 6-0; 3-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) bt 6-Venus Williams (US) 6-4, 6-4.—AFP