rogerfederer.com - Cincy

Cincy

Roger was in cruise control on Thursday night as he beat Belgian Olivier Rochus 6-3 6-4 to lead four of the world's top five into the quarter-finals of the Cincinnati Masters.

Lleyton Hewitt, Marat Safin and Andy Roddick all moved into the last eight but Roger was the star of the show as he overcame a ragged start to set up a clash with Argentine Jose Acasuso. After spraying a few forehands over the baseline in the first few games, Roger, playing his first event since Wimbledon, found his rhythm and Rochus, the world No 34, could only laugh as shot after shot was sent ripping past him.

The top seed smashed 14 aces and broke in the eighth game of the first set and the third of the second as he advanced in style. "I'm really happy with the way I played tonight," Roger said. "He's a really tough player and I played aggressive which you have to do against him because he's so good from the baseline." Roger and Rochus played each other many times in the junior ranks, and the Swiss admitted he had not always had things his own way. "We played under 14s when he was good and I was not," Roger said. "When we got to under 16s I started to grow and started to win a bit more."