Top-seeded Roger Federer and No.5 Tim Henman became the first men to reach the quarter-finals at the US Open, Federer on a walkover over Romanian Andrei Pavel and Henman when Germany's Nicolas Kiefer retired with a wrist injury.

Japan's Shinobu Asagoe beat Greece's Eneni Daniilidou 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-3 to continue to fill the women's final eight field.

Pavel pulled out of the scheduled match with a herniated disc, sending Federer to the quarter-finals at the US Open for the first time. The top-ranked Federer is trying to be the first man since 1988 to win three Grand Slam titles in a year.

He'll play two-time champion Andre Agassi or Sargis Sargsian in the quarter-finals. Pavel missed six months last year with injuries to his back and right wrist.

Henman broke Kiefer to go up 2-0 in the final set and led 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-1 6-7 (4) 3-0 when the 19th-seeded German couldn't continue. Kiefer appeared to injure his right wrist on a point in the final game while volleying a hard shot from Federer.

Federer moves on to a quarter-final match against either No.6 Andre Agassi or unseeded Sargis Sargsian

Henman next will face the winner between Belgium's Oliver Rochus, who upset No.3 Carlos Moya on Saturday, and 22nd-seeded Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia, who were playing later on Tuesday.

The 62nd-ranked Asagoe becomes the lowest-ranked US Open quarter-finalist since Venus Williams, who was 66th in 1997. Asagoe joins Amalei Mauresmo, Elena Dementieva, Jennifer Capriati and Serena Williams, who already have reached the quarter-finals.

Playing in her fifth US Open and 17th Grand Slam tournament overall, Asagoe's first career major quarter-final will be against Williams or Lindsay Davenport.

Asagoe took a 5-0 edge in the final set, and held a match point at 30-40 on Daniilidou's serve. Then Asagoe began to falter, allowing Daniilidou to win three-straight games. But Asagoe eventually served it out, winning on her third match point, when Daniilidou pushed a volley long.

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