Roger Federer continued his serene progress at the US Open to remain on course for a showdown with the man who ended his amazing Grand Slam streak.
Federer overcame strong winds to beat France's Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4 6-3 6-3 in one hour and 39 minutes and is yet to drop a set in three matches at Flushing Meadows.
The five-time champion is looking to reach his seventh straight final in New York and regain the title after losing to Argentina's Juan Martin Del Potro 12 months ago.
But he looks set to face Sweden's Robin Soderling in the quarter-finals, the player he lost to at the same stage of the French Open this year to end his streak of 23 consecutive Grand Slam semi-final appearances.
Speaking about his win over Mathieu, Federer said: "I thought the first set was the key. He has some serious talent. We came through the juniors together and he used to toy around with me.
"I got a bit lucky in the first set, he had the first break point at 4-3 and after that I was able to break him back and maybe break his will a bit."
Soderling needed five sets to edge past Austrian qualifier Andreas Haider-Maurer in the first round, but has since dropped just 16 games, the fifth seed beating Thiemo De Bakker 6-2 6-3 6-3 in just an hour and 42 minutes.
Third seed Novak Djokovic is also through after knocking out American James Blake 6-1 7-6 6-3.
