World number two Rafael Nadal brushed aside Tommy Robredo 6-2, 6-4 in an all-Spanish clash at the Madrid Masters on Thursday to march into the quarter-finals.
The 19-year-old top seed, who is bidding for his fourth Masters title of the year, put Robredo under pressure with his characteristic brand of high-energy tennis.
Nadal will meet pugnacious Czech Radek Stepanek, who downed Argentine Jose Acasuso 7-6, 4-6, 7-6 to advance to the last eight for the fourth time in a month.
"I'm very happy with the way I played and think I played a lot better than yesterday," Nadal told reporters.
"It'll be very difficult against Stepanek though as he is playing very well at the moment."
Third and fourth seeds Nikolay Davydenko and Guillermo Coria were eliminated.
American Robby Ginepri upset Davydenko 6-3, 7-5 to line up a quarter-final with Spain's David Ferrer, who fought his way back from a set down to score a 6-7, 6-1, 6-4 win over sixth seed and French Open runner-up Mariano Puerta.
Coria lost to the aggressive Fernando Gonzalez 7-5, 6-3, the first time the Argentine was beaten by the Chilean in six meetings.
Gonzalez was joined in the last eight by fifth seed David Nalbandian, who sunk Sweden's Thomas Johansson 6-3, 7-5.
Nalbandian, who lost to Marat Safin in last year's final, faces a showdown with Croatian Ivo Karlovic who used his monster serve to blast his way to a 7-6, 7-6 victory over Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia.
Karlovic, who disposed of second seed Andy Roddick in the last round, has gone to a tiebreak in seven of the eight sets he has played here and appropriately enough finished off Hrbaty with a thundering ace.
The in-form Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia, who has won back-to-back tournaments in Metz and Vienna, ousted Belgium's Olivier Rochus 6-4, 6-4 and will now meet Gonzalez.
FLYING START
Nadal, who shrugged off knee problems to beat Romanian Victor Hanescu in his first match, got off to a flying start against Robredo when he broke serve in the opening game.
The young Mallorcan kept Robredo on the rack and broke again in the seventh game before serving out to take the first set.
Robredo, who beat fellow Spaniard Carlos Moya in the second round, surrendered his serve once more in the third game of the second set as he struggled to deal with Nadal's heavy forehands from the back of the court.
The 23-year-old broke back with a fine forehand pass in the sixth game and tried to attack but Nadal stepped up a gear to break again in the ninth.
Gonzalez and Coria exchanged two breaks apiece in the opening set of their South American duel.
But the Chilean upped the pressure to earn three set points in the 12th game and claimed the set at the third attempt after a double fault from Coria.
Gonzalez grew in stature in the second set and put constant pressure on the inconsistent Coria serve with his aggressive returns to wrap up the win.
The powerful Ginepri, a U.S. Open semi-finalist and seeded 16 here, had to push himself to the limit to beat world number eight Davydenko.
The never-say-die Russian saved four match points in the 12th game but finally succumbed when Ginepri won his serve with an ace.
