Roger Federer and Andy Roddick entered the quarter-finals of the Sony Ericsson Open here last night, and will square off against each other.

While Federer erased eight break points in a pivotal game early and went on to beat American Taylor Dent 6-3, 6-2 yesterday, No 5 seed Roddick advanced by beating France's Gael Monfils 7-6 (2), 6-4 in his pre-quarter-final tie.

Dent's only break-point chances against Federer came with the score reading two-all. Federer hit a service winner to close out the 26-point game.

Dent's serve-and-volley tactics had Federer rushing his shots in the first few games. However, the American won barely 50 percent of his points at the net, while Federer won 25 of his 30 net points.