Top seed Roger Federer avenged his Athens 2004 humiliation with a convincing win over Tomas Berdych on Wednesday as he stayed on course for an Olympic final with Rafael Nadal. Federer was broken in each set but came roaring back each time to end it 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) and erase memories of the second round shock by the Czech which left him in tears four years ago. “I'm very happy with the way I played. I haven't lost to him since the Olympic Games,” Federer said. “He's always dangerous – you can see how hard he hits the ball.” Earlier, Nadal and Novak Djokovic ended Russian involvement in the men's singles with straight-sets wins to also reach the last eight. Nadal saw off Igor Andreev 6-4, 6-2 while Djokovic beat 13th seed Mikhail Youzhny 7-6 (7-3), 6-3. Nadal will next meet Jurgen Melzer after the Austrian ended the giant-killing run of Taiwan's Lu Yen-Hsun 6-2, 6-4. Third-ranked Djokovic will play either seventh seed David Nalbandian or Gael Monfils for the prize of meeting Nadal in the semis. Athens bronze-medalist Fernando Gonzalez and Paul Henri-Mathieu of France set up a last-eight meeting with wins against Olivier Rochus and Nicolas Kiefer respectively. Federer, who finished fourth in 2000, will face James Blake in the quarterfinals after the US number one beat Gilles Simon 6-4, 6-2. Meanwhile, China's Li Na delighted home fans with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-0 victory over Estonia's Kaia Kanepi. She will face 2000 singles and doubles champion Venus Williams in the quarterfinals. However, there was heartbreak for Wimbledon semifinalist Zheng Jie, who went down 6-4, 6-3 to Russian sixth seed Dinara Safina. Serena Williams overcame a one-set deficit and racquet-smashing fit to beat French teen Alize Cornet 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. Serena will face Elena Dementieva in the last eight as she bids to add another medal to her 2000 doubles gold. Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, who this week achieved the No. 1 ranking for the first time, beat No. 16 Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia 7-5, 6-1. Jankovic's next opponent will be No. 6 Dinara Safina of Russia, riding a 13-match winning streak after beating Zheng Jie of China 6-4, 6-3. Mixed luck for Indians Sania Mirza's miserable Olympics experience ended on Wednesday when she and partner Sunitha Rao crashed out of the women's doubles at the second round stage. The Indian duo lost 6-4, 6-4 to top seeds Svetlana Kuznetsova and Dinara Safina of Russia. There was better news for India in the men's doubles where seventh seeds Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi beat Brazil's Marcelo Melo and Andre Sa 6-4, 6-2 and will now face Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka, the fourth seeds, for a place in the semifinals. – Reuters __
