Canas, who beat Federer in consecutive tournaments in March, was broken at love in the second game. Two more breaks of serve gave Federer the first set in 21 minutes.

"I played aggressively, took my chances and felt in control," Federer said. "It was nice to beat him, that's for sure."

Canas held serve for 1-1 in the second set. But Federer, the defending champion, abandoned the ground strokes and came to the net. He scored 14 of his 17 overall winners at the net in the second set.

Federer, who won 32 of his 41 service points, broke Canas again in the sixth game before holding serve for the rest of the way.

In the quarterfinals, Federer will play the winner between Spanish wild card Feliciano Lopez and Austrian qualifier Stefan Koubek.

Canas defeated the top-ranked player in earlier in the year at Indian Wells, Calif., and Miami.

"I was especially disappointed with the Miami loss, so to beat him later in the year after two tough losses is nice," Federer said.

Canas had only nine return points.

"He played an excellent match, he didn't make any errors," Canas said. "He was superior to me the entire match."

The indoor surface in Madrid may have favored Federer.

"Maybe a little quicker than usual," Federer said. "I think the surface was much slower in Indian Wells and Miami. And I didn't know his game so well then."

Earlier, fifth-seeded Fernando Gonzalez of Chile defeated Juan Monaco of Argentina 6-4, 6-2.