Beijing, tennis, men's third round

Olympics: Federer and Nadal remain on collision course after victories

· Swiss gets better of Athens conqueror in 6-3, 7-6 success
· Incoming world No1 loses just six games in win over Andreev
Roger Federer serve
Roger Federer beat Tomas Berdych 6-3, 7-6 to reach the quarter-finals of the Olympic Games. Photograph: Charles Krupa/AP

Coming into their third-round encounter, Tomas Berdych had a useful record against Roger Federer at the Olympics, having played him once and won once. That win, four years ago, was the making of the freckle-faced Czech, who was then just 18 years old. When they met, Federer had been world No1 for just eight months, and had a mere three grand slams to his name. He was well on the way to world domination, though not quite there, but his exit to the unsung Berdych was a massive shock.

Federer, whose 4½ years on top of the rankings ends on Monday when Rafael Nadal takes over, did not arrive in Beijing in the best of shape. If he was looking for reassurance, untroubled victories over the Russian Dmitry Tursenov and El Salvador's Rafael Arevalo in the opening rounds offered some, dispelling part of the gloom surrounding the Masters defeats in Cincinnati and Montreal. And although Federer lost to Berdych in Athens, he had won all six encounters between the two since.

In the first set, Federer showed his usual economy, a single break settling it 6-3. In the second set, though, the 6ft 5in Czech actually broke Federer's first service game. Given the power that Berdych was injecting into his own serves, up to 200kph when he let one go, the possibility of him holding his serve for five more games did seem feasible.

Yet, if Federer's game appears to be more error-strewn that it should be, he still possesses shots in his armoury that even double-handed players would give one arm for. He broke back, reached six-all and won the tie-break. Job done. Not perfection, by any means, but into the quarter-finals.

In his third-round match, Nadal came up against the Russian Igor Andreev, who once looked as if he would make a Safin-like rise to the top, but has now, ranked at 23, rather found his station in the meritocracy. Still only 24, Andreev has a decent forehand and hits the ball hard, but hard hit balls have never worried Nadal. He just hits them back. It's that retrievability which is so tiresome for his opponents, and it was for Andreev too.

For six games, the Russian held his own as the Spaniard bombarded primarily his backhand. In the seventh, Nadal broke to establish a 4-3 advantage, and his pleasure suggested that one man on court thought the set and perhaps the match was only a formality.

It looked premature when Andreev had five break points to level the score at five apiece, but when that opportunity passed, the Russian's body language suggested that now both players on court knew it was over. One shot that Andreev didn't even attempt to play seemed to sum up mind-set; maybe they should introduce the time-out rule for such moments, bring a psychologist on court and let them talk about it.

To no one's surpise, Nadal wrapped up the first set 6-4, took the first four games in the second set, and secured the inevitable victory at 6-2. All over in one hour and 35 minutes, and Nadal against Federer draws ever closer.

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