Greg Rusedski is in fine form at present

Rusedski, who won the Hall of Fame Championship in Newport, Rhode Island last week, overcame American Dent 7-6 (9-7) 3-6 6-2.

The Briton will now face Karol Beck, the Slovakian who beat Tim Henman at Queen's last month.

Beck saw off the challenge of Israel's Andy Ram 4-6 7-6 (7-1) 6-4.

"Last week gave me a lot of confidence," said Rudeski.

These two weeks were huge for me Greg Rusedski

"It's taken time to get my form back but finally it's coming every match and I'm getting better."

The Rhode Island title moved Rusedski to 98th in the world rankings, assuring him automatic entry into the main draw of next month's US Open.

"These two weeks were huge for me because these were the weeks to get into the US Open," he said.

"I knew I had to win the finals (at Newport) if I wanted to get into the main draw without having to get a wild card."

Agassi joins 800 club

Meanwhile, number one seed Andre Agassi coasted to a comfortable 6-3 6-1 victory over Alex Bogomolov Jr for his 800th career win.

At the other end of the draw, second seed Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand recorded a 6-3 7-6 (7-4) win over South Africa's Wayne Ferreira.

American sixth seed Vince Spadea was forced to retire after losing his first set 6-4 to France's Cyril Saunier.

There was better luck for his compatriot Mardy Fish, who defeated Czech Jan Vasek 7-6 (7-5) 6-2.

But fellow American Bobby Ginepri was unable to make the most of his higher ranking against Tommy Haas, the eight seed losing 6-4 6-3.

Frenchman Julien Benneteau beat Australia's Mark Philippoussis 6-1 7-5.