THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. -- Confronted with an opponent who kept charging, Roger Federer rushed his shots as he searched to find a rhythm.
The fifth game gave him plenty of opportunity.
Serving at 2-all, Federer overcame eight break points in a remarkable sequence to take the lead for good, and he beat American Taylor Dent 6-3, 6-2 Tuesday night at the Sony Ericsson Open.
The No. 2-seeded Federer's reward: a berth in the quarter-finals against Andy Roddick on Wednesday night. Federer has won 16 of their 18 matches but lost to Roddick in the Key Biscayne quarter-finals last year.
Dent's only break-point chances against Federer came in their 26-point fifth game. Federer double-faulted twice in the game and dumped several hurried shots into the net, which left him mumbling and screaming at himself.
He finally whacked a service winner to hold, and his game steadied after that.
Dent played serve-and-volley and also charged the net behind some returns. But he won barely 50 per cent of his points at the net, while Federer won 25 of 30 points at the net.
The tournament still represented progress for Dent, who's ranked No. 467 and mounting a career comeback after being plagued by back trouble for three years.
The No. 5-seeded Roddick also left the baseline behind as he beat Gael Monfils 7-6 (2), 6-4. Roddick won 22 points at the net, showing a willingness to move forward that's part of his more well-rounded game under his new coach, Larry Stefanki.
While Roddick has improved his volley and backhand in recent months, he still possesses an overpowering serve and won 38 of 44 first-serve points against the No. 9-seeded Monfils.
Roddick leads the ATP Tour in victories this year with a record of 26-4.
Roddick lost his serve for the only time to fall behind 6-5 in the opening set. He took advantage of three unforced errors by Monfils to break back and took control of the tiebreaker by smacking winners on the first two points.
"From the tiebreaker on I definitely felt like I was in control," said Roddick, who won the Key Biscayne title in 2004.
No. 8-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova outlasted 18-year-old Caroline Wozniacki in the first women's quarter-final, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-1. When the 2-hour, 54-minute match in humid, 80-degree sunshine ended, Kuznetsova slowly crumpled to the court in exhaustion and relief.
In other men's fourth-round matches, No. 3 Novak Djokovic beat No. 21 Tomas Berdych 6-3, 6-2. No. 4 Andy Murray routed Viktor Troicki 6-1, 6-0. No. 10 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga won 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-2 against No. 7 Gilles Simon, the highest-seeded man to be eliminated.
No. 6 Juan Martin del Potro beat No. 11 David Ferrer 6-3, 6-2. No. 8 Fernando Verdasco defeated No. 18 Radek Stepanek 6-2, 6-2 and will face Murray on Thursday.
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