Federer crushes Blake to reach Madrid quarters

Roger Federer breezes by James Blake in the third round of the Masters Series Madrid on Thursday afternoon. Federer will take on either Andy Roddick or Nikolay Davydenko in the quarterfinals.

Roger Federer needed just one hour and one minute to dispatch James Blake in routine 6-2, 6-4 fashion in the third round of the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open on Thursday afternoon. With the victory, Federer extends his dominant head-to-head record over Blake to 9-1, although he avenged a loss in their most recent encounter at last summer's Beijing Olympics.

Federer made it clear right from the start that he was not going to lose to Blake twice in-a-row. He earned a break in the opening game of the match and that alone would have been enough to take the first despite despite relatively poor serving by Federer. For good measure, however, the world No. 2 added an insurance break at 4-2 before serving out the set with ease. Federer won just 40 percent of his second-serves but saved one break point in holding all four of his service games.

Madrid's No. 2 started out especially slow in terms of his first-serve percentage, but he improved as the first set progressed and that continued throughout the second frame of play. Federer put in 64 percent of his first deliveries and lost a mere three points in his last five service games. Just as he did in the previous set, the Swiss broke for an immediate 1-0 lead and never looked back. He made the advantage stand up with ease the rest of the way, finishing off the proceedings with a love service hold at 5-4--and his fourth ace on match point.

Federer played a clean match, firing more winners than errors (20 to 19). He also capitalized on an off day from Blake, who seemed to be improving on clay over the past week. The 16th-ranked American finished runner-up in Estoril on Sunday and had defeated Victor Hanescu and Ivo Karlovic in Madrid, but on this day he was never competitive while spraying 22 errors and hitting just 12 winners. Federer awaits either Andy Roddick or Nikolay Davydenko in the quarterfinals.