MASON, Ohio, 18 August 2007 — Roger Federer survived a scare from Marcos Baghdatis on Thursday to move into the quarterfinals of the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters, which has been brutal to seeded players this week.

Federer beat Baghdatis 7-6 (5), 7-5, shortly after David Ferrer ousted defending champion Andy Roddick 7-6 (4), 6-4.

“It was a struggle out there for both of us,” Federer said. “It was tough to keep the ball in play, you know, it was really quick.” Baghdatis has never beaten Federer in five matches, but pushed the No. 1 player on tour as he did a year ago in the Australian Open, when Federer won in four sets.

“Basically, I gave the first set away,” said Baghdatis, who helped Federer fight off two set points with a doublefault. Federer then won the tiebreaker, winning the first and last points with aces.

Only four seeds remain, including No. 9 James Blake, who beat Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-1, 6-4 in an evening match. Blake said he’s no longer serving as tentatively as he was earlier this week, after pulling a stomach muscle a week ago.

The field for Friday’s quarterfinals includes three players from Spain, two from the United States and one each from Switzerland, Russia and Australia.

The fallen seeds include No. 3 Roddick and No. 2 Rafael Nadal, who retired on Wednesday with cramps in his wrist and arm. No. 4 Novak Djokovic already lost to Carlos Moya, who stayed alive Thursday by beating Juan Martin Del Potro 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 in a match in 110-degree heat on center court. No. 5 Nikolay Davydenko beat No. 10 Tomas Berdych 6-3, 6-2; Lleyton Hewitt topped Jurgen Melzer 6-3, 6-3; Nicolas Almagro defeated Jarkko Nieminen 6-2, 6-2; and Sam Querry downed Juan Monaco 6-3, 7-5. Federer said despite his erratic performance Thursday he felt he was in the flow of the tournament. He will face Almagro in Friday’s quarterfinals.

Hewitt said fighting the heat was a physical and mental challenge.

Roddick won the event in 2003 and 2006. He reached the quarterfinals in 2002, semifinals in 2004 and finals in 2005, when he lost to Federer.

Justine Henin Sails Into

Rogers Cup Quarterfinals

In Toronto, top ranked Justine Henin beat China’s Peng Shuai 7-5, 6-2 Thursday at the Rogers Cup, moving three wins away from her sixth WTA Tour title of the season.

Henin, who won the French Open title in June, was upset in the semifinals at Wimbledon and had to pull out of a recent tournament in San Diego with injuries to both her wrists. However, she’s playing well as she prepares for the US Open.

Other seeded players to advance included No. 2 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, third-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia, No. 6 Nadia Petrova of Russia and No. 12 Tatiana Golovin of France. Seventh-seeded Marian Bartoli beat No. 9 Dinara Safina of Russia 6-2, 6-7 (2), 6-0 in the late match.

The winds were swirling on the Rexall Center stadium court during Henin’s afternoon matchup. At 5-5, Henin broke her 58th-ranked opponent and then held serve to win the first set.