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CINCINNATI, Aug 18: Second seed Rafael Nadal and emerging British prospect Andy Murray survived tough tests to reach the Cincinnati Masters quarter-finals on Thursday.
Nadal battled past German Tommy Haas 7-6, 6-3 and Murray followed up his win over world number one Roger Federer by recovering from 4-2 down in the final set to beat American Robby Ginepri 7-6, 2-6, 6-4.
American ninth seed Andy Roddick will play Murray next after he beat Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela 6-3, 6-4 in the late match.
French Open champion Nadal meets Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero, who knocked out Swede Robin Soderling 7-5, 6-4.
In the most humid conditions of the week, Haas led 5-3 in the tiebreak only for the Spaniard to win four consecutive points to take the opening set.
Games went with serve in the second set until the eighth when Nadal broke to love.
The 19-year-old Murray dug deep to dismiss Ginepri, a semi-finalist at last year's US Open.
Playing his 13th match in 16 days, the Scot led 3-1 before he was pegged back to 3-3.
Murray saved two set points at 4-5 and went on to snatch the tiebreak 7-3.
Ginepri rallied to take the second set and led 4-2 in the decider but a revitalised Murray broke twice to set up a meeting with Roddick.
Fourth seed Ivan Ljubicic beat Slovak Dominik Hrbaty 7-5, 6-4 and next faces seventh seed Tommy Robredo of Spain.
Chilean 13th seed Fernando Gonzalez also advanced after a 7-6, 7-5 win over unseeded Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka. He will play Spain's David Ferrer, who beat Australian Open runner-up Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus 7-5, 6-4.
Thursday’s results:
Third round: 10-David Ferrer (Spain) beat 8-Marcos Baghdatis (Cyprus) 7-5, 6-4; 9-Andy Roddick (US) beat Juan Ignacio Chela (Argentina) 6-3, 6-4; 7-Tommy Robredo (Spain) beat Florent Serra (France) 6-3, 6-1; Andy Murray (Britain) beat 15-Robby Ginepri (US) 7-6 (7-3), 2-6, 6-4; 13-Fernando Gonzalez (Chile) beat Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland) 7-6 (7-2), 7-5; Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spain) beat Robin Soederling (Sweden) 7-5, 6-4; 2-Rafael Nadal (Spain) beat 14-Tommy Haas (Germany) 7-6 (7-5), 6-3; 4-Ivan Ljubicic (Croatia) beat 16-Dominik Hrbaty (Slovakia) 7-5, 6-4.
HINGIS ADVANCES
MONTREAL: Former world number one Martina Hingis advanced to the quarter-finals of the Rogers Cup on Thursday after defeating Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia 7-5, 6-4.
Her win came as a relief to organisers of the tournament, which has been plagued by withdrawals, injuries and no-shows all week.
Swiss Hingis put on a public practice session earlier in the day after Czech teenager Nicole Vaidisova and Serbia's Jelena Jankovic joined the list of injured withdrawals.
A day after the tournament lost world No 2 Kim Clijsters with a wrist injury, fifth seed Vaidisova withdrew with a right shoulder problem, giving Australian qualifier Nicole Pratt a walkover into Friday's quarter-finals.
Jankovic also pulled out with an unspecified injury, allowing countrywoman Ana Ivanovic a free pass into the last eight.
Vaidisova said she wanted to ensure she was fit for the US Open, which begins on Aug 28.
Seventh-seeded Hingis will play Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova, at four the highest seed left in the tournament, who moved on with a 6-2, 7-6 victory over Ai Sugiyama of Japan.
Slovenia's Katarina Srebotnik, the 14th seed, overwhelmed hometown favourite Stephanie Dubois 6-3, 6-2 to set up a quarter-final clash with Ivanovic.
Russian Anna Chakvetadze beat France's Nathalie Dechy 6-1, 6-4 to set up a meeting with Israel's Shahar Peer.
Ninth seed Dinara Safina ended the challenge of American qualifier Shenay Perry 7-5, 6-3 and now faces Australia's Pratt.
Results:
Third round: 13-Ana Ivanovic (Serbia & Montenegro) beat Jelena Jankovic (Serbia & Montenegro) walkover; Nicole Pratt (Australia) beat 5-Nicole Vaidisova (Czech Republic) walkover; 7-Martina Hingis (Switzerland) beat 11-Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) 7-5, 6-4; Shahar Peer (Israel) beat Marion Bartoli (France) 2-6, 7-5, 6-4; 14-Katarina Srebotnik (Slovenia) beat Stephanie Dubois (Canada) 6-3, 6-2; 4-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) beat Ai Sugiyama (Japan) 6-2 7-6 (8-6); Anna Chakvetadze (Russia) beat Nathalie Dechy (France) 6-1, 6-4; 9-Dinara Safina (Russia) beat Shenay Perry (US) 7-5, 6-3.—Reuters
