ESPN 2008 French Open

PARIS -- A drizzly afternoon made the balls heavy and traction tricky on Roger Federer's least-favorite surface. He hardly seemed bothered.

Moving one round closer to that elusive French Open title, the top-ranked Federer beat Julien Benneteau of France 6-4, 7-5, 7-5 Monday to reach the quarterfinals.

Federer reached the final eight for the 16th Grand Slam in a row. The French Open is the only major championship he hasn't won.

"I hope it's going to go my way this time," Federer said. "All in all, I'm very happy with the way I'm playing."

His quarterfinal opponent is 24th-seeded Fernando Gonzalez, who eliminated Robby Ginepri of the U.S. in straight sets. Federer beat Gonzalez in the 2007 Australian Open final for one of his 12 Grand Slam titles, two away from Pete Sampras' record.

In other matches Monday, No. 5 David Ferrer improved to 8-1 in five-set matches by beating No. 21 Radek Stepanek 4-6, 6-2, 1-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Ferrer next plays unseeded Frenchman Gael Monfils, who defeated No. 28 Ivan Ljubicic 7-6 (1), 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Federer hit 23 winners despite the damp conditions. He was broken serving for each of the first two sets, but recovered to close them out, finishing the second set in steady rain that prompted a 90-minute interruption before the third set.

"Obviously I'm the favorite in this section, so I hope I can make it through to the final," Federer said. "But I'm not there yet, so I have to be very careful with Gonzalez. ... He was born on clay, more or less."

With his loss, Ginepri became the final American to fall in Paris.

His surprising run ended when he was beaten by Gonzalez 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-1.

Conquering an aversion to clay common among Americans, Ginepri became the first U.S. man to reach the fourth round at Roland Garros since Andre Agassi in 2003. He hung with Gonzalez until losing serve twice in a row late in the second set.

"A disappointing performance on my part today, to not have my A game when I really expected it to be there," Ginepri said. "At the same time, it was great last week and great tournament. I'll probably be a little bit more happy tomorrow, but at the moment I'm a little discouraged with the way it went today."

Gonzalez benefited from a wider variety of shotmaking than Ginepri, mixing drop shots and slices with a penetrating forehand, and looked more comfortable with his footwork on the dirt. The Chilean also showed more patience in long rallies.

"I tried to end the points too quickly," Ginepri said. "I should have turned it more into a grind test. A five-hour grind test would have favored me a little bit more."

Gonzalez could pose a formidable challenge for Federer. The Chilean is 16-0 this year on clay, although he withdrew before the third round in Rome because of a hamstring injury.

At No. 88, Ginepri was the lowest-ranked player left in the men's draw. He began the tournament with an 0-5 record at Roland Garros, and by winning three matches, he clinched a berth on the U.S. Olympic team.

Rounding out the rough showing for Americans in Paris, the top-seeded men's doubles team of twins Bob and Mike Bryan was upset by Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay and Luis Horna of Peru 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (1) in a quarterfinal that ended in a downpour -- and with a bit of rancor.

When the teams switched sides during the third-set tiebreaker, Cuevas celebrated his duo's 5-1 lead by leaping over the net. So the Bryans didn't shake his hand when the match finished.

The U.S. Davis Cup doubles pair was more disturbed by the country's overall showing on clay.

"I guess we were holding the flag there at the end," Mike Bryan said. "We'll suit it up at Wimbledon and see how it goes."

Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press