Top-ranked Roger Federer trounced Swiss compatriot Ivo Heuberger, 6-1, 6-3 Thursday and cruised into to the Thailand Open quarterfinals.
Second seeded Andy Roddick also advanced after rallying to move past fellow American Jeff Morrison 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-4.
"He hung in there, and after 5-1, it was the toughest game in the match," said Federer, who won three of the four Grand Slam titles in this year. "I was happy with my serves and returns today."
Heuberger entered the match with a sore tooth, a condition Federer exploited.
"I knew he was not 100 percent and I knew I could take advantage of that," Federer said. "He must be 100 percent to beat me."
After losing the second set, Roddick got a break in the deciding set and went on to lead 5-4. But it wasn't until the seventh match point that he was able to end the tight match with a forehand winner.
"I missed easy shots and missed easy points," Roddick acknowledged to reporters afterward.
He next faces Thomas Johansson of Sweden, who beat Chile's Adrian Garcia 6-3, 6-3.
"He's a former top 10 player and he's won a grand slam," Roddick said of the Swede. "It will be tough, but I'm hitting the balls well now."
Marat Safin booked his quarterfinals berth with a hard fought 6-3, 6-4 win over the Czech Republic's Jiri Vanek.
Defending champion Taylor Dent was not so lucky, losing 6-0, 6-4 to Dutchman Dennis Van Scheppingen in just 42 minutes.
The third seeded Safin needed eight match points to stop a late challenge from Vanek at the Impact Arena.
"It wasn't my day to close out the match," Safin said. "He was trying hard and didn't lose his opportunities. It was very close."
The win puts Safin a step closer to claiming back-to-back titles, after the Russian won the China Open earlier this month.
Dent's serve and volley game deserted him in the first set, which ended in just 20 minutes. He finally managed to hold his serve in the second set, but Scheppingen wrapped up the match with a sharp return to the American's feet.
Fourth-seeded Paradorn Srichaphan, the hometown favorite, was the last player to reach the quarterfinal with a 6-0, 7-6 (4) victory over American Alex Bogomolov Jr.
Paradorn won the first seven games before his world-ranked No. 102 opponent fought back to force the tie-break. The Thai kept his cool, however, consistently getting the crucial points to seal his crowd-pleasing victory.
In other second round matches, eighth-seeded Robin Soderling of Sweden eased past Australia's Paul Baccanello 6-1, 6-3, while Brazilian Flavio Saretta ousted Rogier Wassen of the Netherlands 3-6, 6-1, 6-3.
Shanghai Open
Last year's runner-up Jiri Novak overcame Dutch qualifier Melle Van Gemerden 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-1 in the second round.
"I was playing solid tennis today," the Czech said. "I took my advantages and I thought I was much better on the court in the third set."
Second-seeded Novak's seventh quarterfinal of the season will be against No. 8 Jan-Michael Gambill of the US, who ousted Chinese wild card Zhu Benqiang 6-0, 7-6 (5).
Third-seeded Guillermo Canas of Argentina beat Kristian Pless of Denmark 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 and remained on course to win his third title in four tournaments.
"I'm very happy to reach the quarterfinals. I had a tough match today," said Canas, winner of 15 of his last 16 matches.
He'll face seventh-seeded Ricardo Mello of Brazil on Friday.
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