World number one Roger Federer breezed through irritating showers to shrug off Romania's Victor Hanescu 6-3, 6-2 and reach the Estoril Open quarterfinals on Thursday.

With conditions at their worst, the top seed needed just 59 minutes to dispatch the world number 68 in the claycourt event.

"It was rainy throughout the match, that's always a hard thing," said 12-time Grand Slam champion Federer.

"The balls have a very dead feel, the kick serve is non-existent. You have to play in a different way. Victor had a hard time today, he struggled to hit winners and I didn't make too many mistakes.

"I played offensive and he didn't know what to do. It was a good match. I'm very happy but it's not a match to over-rate. It was a solid performance though."

Federer, playing this low-key event for the first time as he prepares for a new assault on the French Open, the only Grand Slam title to eldue him, was watched by his new coaching brains trust headed by Spain's Jose Higueras and Swiss Davis Cup coach Severin Luethi.

Federer is hoping to lift his first title of a troubled season having seen his start to 2008 overshadowed by a battle with glandular fever.

He has Higueras, who coached Michael Chang and Jim Courier to Roland Garros titles, on trial this week to see how the arrangement might work.

"Usually you start with a coach during practise week," said the Swiss. "We started during a tournament.

"My practise weeks are in December, January and February. Here, there is a match always around the corner.

"It's a bit harder but so far so good. I'm happy the way it's going and we'll see what happens in the future."

The world number one took an early lead in Thursday's drizzle, advancing to 3-1 in the opening set at the Estadio Nacional.

Federer clinched the opening set in half an hour with a service winner, then showed he was hoping for a quick afternoon by breaking to start the second set.

The Swiss, who next faces either Joao Sousa or Federico Gil, both of Portugal, reached a comfortable 4-0 lead and moved into a winning position with three match points in the eighth game.

But Hanescu had other plans, saving all three and forcing the Swiss to fire his third ace on a fourth opportunity to get the job done.

In other second-round matches, Czech Jiri Vanek defeated German eighth seed Michael Berrer 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 while Denis Gremelmayr took a win for Germany over Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili 7-6 (8/6), 6-1.

Women's second seed Maria Kirilenko reached the last eight with a defeat of Czech Petra Cetkovska 6-3, 6-2 while Ukranian Olga Savchuk put out Sweden's seventh seed Sofia Arvidsson 6-2, 6-2.