Cincinnati: World number one Roger Federer was in cruise control on Thursday night as he defeated Belgian Olivier Rochus 6-3, 6-4 to lead four of the world’s top five into the quarter finals of the Cincinnati Masters.

Lleyton Hewitt, Marat Safin and Andy Roddick all moved into the last eight but Federer was the star of the show as he overcame a ragged start to set up a clash with Argentine Jose Acasuso.

Fourth seed Marat Safin showed flashes of brilliance, hammering Slovakia’s Dominik Hrbaty 6-0, 6-3.

Appearing in his first tournament since the Wimbledon, the Russian was at his imperious best as he stormed through in 68 minutes to set up a meeting with American wildcard Robby Ginepri, who defeated Spaniard Carlos Moya 6-3, 6-4.

Hrbaty held a 7-6 advantage over Safin in their head-to-heads but once the Russian held serve in a tight first game, he was in complete control.

Meanwhile, after spraying a few forehands over the baseline in the first few games, Federer, also playing his first event since the Wimbledon, found his rhythm and Rochus, the world No. 34, could only stare as shot after shot was sent ripping past him.

Third seed Hewitt, who battled past Greg Rusedski in three sets on Wednesday, raced to a 5-0 lead against Croatian Mario Ancic and one break in the second set was enough for victory as he claimed a 6-1, 6-4 win.

He’ll meet Russian sixth seed Nikolay Davydenko, who beat unseeded Chilean Fernando Gonzalez 6-3, 6-4.

Fifth seed Roddick was pushed hard by Chela before progressing with a 7-6, 6-2 victory.

The American saved a break point at 4-4 before winning the opening-set tiebreak and then broke twice in the second set to set up a meeting with Russian Mikhail Youzhny, who beat French wildcard Gael Monfils 4-6, 6-1, 6-1.