TORONTO, Aug 2: Second seed Marat Safin and third seed Tommy Haas both survived third-round scares to battle their way into the quarter-finals of the $2.95 million Canada Tennis Masters on Thursday.

Safin, the highest seed left after world number one Lleyton Hewitt’s first-round exit, struggled with the scorching heat and a feisty Marcelo Rios before disposing of the unpredictable Chilean 3-6 6-3 7-6 (7-3) to move a step closer to the title he won in 2000.

As demanding as the encounter was, the Russian player faced a tougher grilling during his post-match press conference when he was asked about his links to Uzbek-born Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov, the alleged mobster charged with fixing figure skating results at the Winter Olympics.

Pete Sampras also faced tough questions — all his own — after the 13-times grand slam winner was beaten 7-6 (7-3) 3-6 7-6 (7-5) by Haas, who is back in form after missing six weeks to be with his parents while they recovered from a near fatal motorcycle accident.

Safin entered his third round clash with Rios wondering which player he would face, the brilliant Chilean who briefly held the world number one ranking or the player who crashed out to unknowns in the opening round of his last two events in Umag and Kitzbuehel.

After trading the opening two sets, Rios took early control of the third when he broke his opponent to go 3-1 up.

But Safin, the winner here in 2000, quickly broke back in the seventh to send the set to a tie-break.

Wimbledon runner-up David Nalbandian came back from three match points down to topple fourth seed Tim Henman 4-6 7-6 (9-7) 7-5.

Joining Nalbandian was compatriot Guillermo Canas, who stormed past fifth-seeded Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov 6-2 6-2 to make sure two Argentines went through to the quarter-finals of a Masters Series event for the first time.

With courtside temperatures soaring to 42 degrees Celsius, Nalbandian and Henman laboured for nearly three hours in the heat, the 15th seed finally ending the marathon when he broke the Briton to clinch the match with a forehand return down the line.

Nalbandian will now face 12th-seeded American Andy Roddick, who eased past Austria’s Stefan Koubek 6-3 6-3.

Jiri Novak also worked his way into the last eight, the 14th-seeded Czech advancing with a 7-5 6-3 win over American Taylor Dent, who was attempting to follow in his father Phil’s footsteps by reaching the quarter-finals.

French pair Fabrice Santoro and Sebastien Grosjean also registered comfortable wins.

Grosjean, the 11th seed, beat Czech Radek Stepanek 6-2 6-2 while Santoro put out American Todd Martin 6-2 6-4.

RESULTS (X DENOTES SEED):