INDIAN WELLS, California, 18 March 2005 — World No. 1 Roger Federer booked his place in the quarterfinals of the Pacific Life Open on Wednesday with a 7-6, 7-6 victory over Croatia’s Ivan Ljubicic.

The Swiss whipped four winners in the second set tiebreak to break the resistance of Ljubicic who has now been beaten by Federer four times already this season.

Federer, the defending champion, will face Germany’s Nicolas Kiefer for a place in the semifinals after he dumped Argentine 10th seed David Nalbandian 6-1, 6-3.

Before Federer’s late show, former champion Andre Agassi had dazzled the crowd with some vintage form to blast past Argentina’s Guillermo Coria 6-4, 6-1 to set up a quarterfinal showdown with world No. 2 Lleyton Hewitt.

Hewitt, twice a champion here, tore apart France’s Paul-Henri Matthieu 6-1, 6-0.

Third seed Andy Roddick took down the man who upset him at the Olympics, Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, 6-4, 6-3. Roddick will face seventh seed Carlos Moya of Spain, a 7-5, 6-2 winner over France’s Fabrice Santoro.

Britain’s Tim Henman also reached the quarterfinals with a 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 victory over Spain’s Tommy Robredo.

In the women’s draw, fourth seed Elena Dementieva overcame fellow Russian and US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova 3-6, 6-3, 7-5. Dementieva will meet 2003 champion Kim Clijsters in the semifinals after the Belgian beat Spanish veteran Conchita Martinez 6-1, 3-6, 6-2.

The 35-year-old Agassi was magical all afternoon against a scampering Coria, dictating play from the start to set up a ninth career meeting with Hewitt who he has beaten on their last two meetings, both on US hard courts.

Henman, who reached the final here last year, hit 40 winners against Robredo, but was still unimpressed by his form.

Henman will now play 14th seed Guillermo Canas who was leading Taylor Dent 6-3 when the American withdrew with a stomach complaint. Kuznetsova saved four match points in the final game against Dementieva but double faulted on the fifth to lose the contest.

Clijsters continued her strong comeback from a wrist injury with a scrappy victory over Martinez.

“Three-set matches, it doesn’t matter if you play them good or bad, it’s always a motivation to get through them,” she said.