Federer, Ferrer move into French quarters; Bryans fall

The top-seeded/world No. 1 Federer handled Frenchman Julien Benneteau 6-4, 7-5, 7-5 on Day 9 at Roland Garros. The Swiss superstar moved on in 2 hours, 26 minutes, despite misfiring for 42 unforced errors. Federer broke Benneteau's serve six times, compared to three breaks for the French crowd favorite.

The 26-year-old Federer, who lost to Spanish clay-court wizard Rafael Nadal in the last two finals here, will compete in his fourth French Open quarter, going 3-0 in his previous efforts in the round of eight. Federer has lost to Nadal in his last three trips to this Parisian major, including a semifinal setback in 2005.

The reigning five-time Wimbledon and four-time U.S. Open champion Federer, who still needs the French Open to complete a career Grand Slam, is a perfect 21-0 at Roland Garros over the last four years when he's not playing Nadal.

"I hope it's going to go my way this time," Federer said. "All in all, I'm very happy with the way I'm playing."

Federer's quarterfinal opponent on Wednesday will be 24th-seeded Chilean Fernando Gonzalez, marking a rematch of last year's Australian Open final, which was won by the 12-time Grand Slam champion from Switzerland.

Meanwhile, Ferrer went the distance to sneak past 21st-seeded Czech Radek Stepanek 4-6, 6-2, 1-6, 6-3, 6-3. Up next for the gritty Spaniard will be heavy French crowd favorite Gael Monfils.

Earlier on Monday, Gonzalez eliminated Robby Ginepri, who was the last American standing in either singles draw. "Gonzo" ended the unseeded Ginepri's surprising run here with a 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, 6-1 decision.

Prior to this year, Ginepri had been 0-5 in his previous trips to Roland Garros. He was the first American man to reach the fourth round here since 2003.

Gonzalez will appear in his second French Open quarterfinal in six years.

The French faithful were treated to a big win when the aforementioned Monfils grounded 28th-eeded Croat Ivan Ljubicic 7-6 (7-1), 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. The 21-year- old former junior standout Monfils will now appear in his first-ever Grand Slam quarterfinal.

The men's quarters will get underway on Tuesday, as a second-seeded Nadal will take on 19th-seeded fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro and third-seeded Serbian star Novak Djokovic will tangle with rising Latvian Ernests Gulbis. Nadal is the reigning three-time French Open champ and has never lost a match in 25 main-draw outings at Roland Garros. Djokovic is the reigning Aussie Open champion and was last year's U.S. Open runner-up to the great Federer.

Nadal has won 112 out of his last 114 matches on his beloved red clay.

In some men's doubles action, the top-seeded twin Bryan brothers, Bob and Mike, suffered a 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (7-1) quarterfinal setback at the hands of Uruguay's Pablo Cuevas and Peruvian Luis Horna. The American Bryans won the French Open in 2003 and were the back-to-back runners-up to Jonas Bjorkman and Max Mirnyi here in 2005 and 2006.