INDIAN WELLS, California, 17 March 2005 — Roger Federer continued to roll over his opponents and Lindsay Davenport had an equally easy time as both top seeds breezed into the next round of the Indian Wells WTA and ATP Masters Series event.

World No. 1 and defending champion Federer cruised past unheralded Gilles Muller, of Luxembourg, while Davenport dispatched 16-year-old Viktoriya Kutuzova 6-1, 6-4 in the evening match on Tuesday.

Federer is now 22-1 this year after firing seven aces and winning 80 of 141 total points in the 83-minute match.

Federer already has three titles (Doha, Rotterdam, Dubai) in 2005 and will next face Croatian Ivan Ljubicic, who beat Czech Tomas Berdych 6-4, 6-1.

Red-hot Ljubicic has reached four finals this year, but strangely three of those losses have been to Federer. Federer’s only loss this year came in the semifinals of the Australian Open to eventual champion Marat Safin, who was upset by American Taylor Dent 7-5, 6-4 on Tuesday.

Fourth seeded Safin, of Russia, crashed out of Indian Wells in the third round for the second straight year, losing last year to Andy Roddick.

Two time Indian Wells champion Davenport registered five aces and won 89 percent of her first serve points against the 16-year-old Ukrainian.

Davenport, who is seeking her 47th career singles title, squares off against France’s Nathalie Dechy in the quarters. Australian two-time Grand Slam winner Lleyton Hewitt covered the court effectively in overpowering Frenchman Michael Llodra 6-2, 7-6.

The former world No. 1 Hewitt committed just 12 unforced errors against the hard-serving Llodra. The 24-year-old Hewitt advances to the fourth round where he will meet Paul-Henri Mathieu. Hewitt has a history of producing some of his best tennis in Indian Wells, winning consecutive titles in 2002 and 2003 and holding a stellar 21-5 singles record.

In the women’s draw, Russian fourth seed Elena Dementieva advanced to the quarterfinals by beating France’s Tatiana Golovin 2-6, 6-4, 6-4. Dementieva had to rally from a set down for the second consecutive match as she is trying to improve on her semifinal finish here in 2000.

“I was able to come back and I feel my game is getting better from the previous match,” said Dementieva, who was runner-up in the French and US Opens last year.

Dementieva was one of six Russians in action Tuesday with three advancing to the quarterfinals. She next faces Kuznetsova in a rematch of the 2005 US Open final which was won by Kuznetsova 6-3, 7-5.

Kuznetsova booked her spot in the quarters by beating Japan’s Rika Fujiwara 6-3, 6-2 and third seed Maria Sharapova rallied from behind to beat Colombia’s Fabiola Zuluaga 4-6, 6-3, 7-5. Unseeded Kim Clijsters continued her march through the field routing Russian teen Evgenia Linetskaya 6-2, 6-1.