Roger Federer put a bumpy start at the Thailand Open behind him with an easy victory on Thursday as British tennis hope Andy Murray lived up to his vow to break into the top 100 this season.
Federer, who slammed his racket to the court in frustration during his tougher-than-expected opening match, dispatched German unknown Denis Gremelmayr 6-3, 6-2 in 61 minutes to reach the quarter-finals in the 550,000-dollar event.
The world number one, apparently feeling the effects of Switzerland's Davis Cup tie against Great Britain, was taken to a first-set tie-breaker on Wednesday before seeing off dogged Brazilian Marcos Daniel 7-6 (7/4), 6-4.
Gremelmayr, a 24-year-old ranked 239, won his only ATP main draw match of the season in the first round at the Impact arena.
The holder of 10 titles this season improved a post-1968 Open era-best match winning streak to 37 in a row on hard courts, standing 47-1 on the surface this season. Overall, Federer remains untouchable with a 74-3 record in 2005.
He was joined in the last eight by British teenager Murray, who knocked out Sweden's fifth seed Robin Soderling 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/5) for a first ever top 100 ranking from Monday.
"This is a pretty big deal for me, to get there this year," said Murray, 18, who began the year at 411 before making the third round at Wimbledon and the second round at the US Open. "I'm pretty happy with myself, I've played well the last few months and I think I deserve it."
Finnish sixth seed Jarkko Nieminen overcame Russian Dmitry Tursunov 7-6 (7/2), 6-4.
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