Roger Federer recovered from a poor performance in the previous round to cruise into the quarter-finals of the Monte Carlo Masters at the expense of Gael Monfils 6-3 6-4.

The Swiss top seed, who was two points from an embarrassing defeat against Spanish qualifier Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo on Wednesday, sealed a straightforward victory in 71 minutes.

Federer, who won his first title of season at the Estoril Open last week, is still on course for a third consecutive Monte Carlo final against Spain's Rafael Nadal, a 6-4 6-1 winner against compatriot Juan Carlos Ferrero.

Preceeding him on centre court was Federer, who was happy with his performance a day after feeling the heat against the world number 137.

"I think it definitely was a good, tough match from my side. I think Gael is a good player," Federer said.

"You know, up and coming. I think he gives you a chance to play aggressive because he doesn't like to do the game himself.

"It allows you to potentially make a lot of mistakes."

Nadal, who is defending his title, withstood Ferrero's early fight back to set up another all Spanish meeting with David Ferrer.

Fifth seed Ferrer, who has been eliminated at the quarter-final stage on his last four appearances in the principality, swept aside Serbian Janko Tipsarevic 6-4 6-0 in the third round in 67 minutes.

Nadal and Ferrero, with four French Open titles and five Monte Carlo crowns between them, treated the fans to top-notch tennis in the first set before the 13th seed ran out of steam.

"I think it was a good match, it is never easy to play against Juan Carlos," said Nadal.

"If I win 6-4 6-1 against Juan Carlos, I can't think I am not playing well, no ?"

Number two seed Nadal built a 4-1 lead in the first set after an early break only for Ferrero to level at 4-4 with a super forehand winner on his opponent's serve.

Ferrero, who won the French Open two years before Nadal started his reign on the Roland Garros clay, found some success by changing his tactics, winning 13 points at the net.

However, Nadal took the set after 54 minutes on his fourth chance by winning an impressive rally during which Ferrero retrieved the ball between his legs with his back to the net.

Nadal now had a grip on the match and rolled on, sealing victory after one hour and 46 minutes with a backhand winner.

Fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko of Russia beat German 16th seed Philipp Kohlschreiber 3-6 7-5 6-2 and next meets compatriot Igor Andreev , who wasted six match points before beating Spaniard Nicolas Almagro 7-5 4-6 6-4.

Reuters