08/01/2009 5:50 AM
Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray all cruised into the quarter-finals of the Qatar Open in Doha on Wednesday.
Top seed Nadal had the easiest win of the trio, beating qualifier Karol Beck 6-1 6-2.
The world No.1 did not hit the heights of Tuesday's victory over Fabrice Santoro, where he dropped only one game, but he again raced through the first set, breaking the Beck serve three times.
The Slovakian fought back impressively at the start of the second set, breaking the Nadal serve, but his advantage was short-lived and the Spaniard won six games in a row to ease to victory.
Nadal is likely to be tested more fully in his quarter-final with Gael Monfils, a semi-finalist at the French Open last year.
Fifth seed Monfils was given a stern examination by fellow Frenchman Nicolas Devilder before coming through 7-5 7-6 (7-4).
Second seed Federer did not have things all his own way against Italy's Andreas Seppi before coming through 6-3 6-3.
The 13-time grand slam champion broke Seppi's serve to go 4-2 ahead but allowed his opponent to respond straight away, although a third straight break saw Federer claim the first set and another break at the start of the second put him well on the way to victory.
Eighth seed Philipp Kohlschreiber will be Federer's opponent in the last eight after the German beat Kristof Vliegen 6-4 6-7 (4-7) 6-4.
Defending champion Murray continued his smooth progress through the draw with a 6-2 6-4 victory over Germany's Philipp Petzschner.
The 21-year-old third seed matched his win over Albert Montanes on Tuesday and will now face Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky, who Murray beat in the final of the US Open juniors in 2004.
Stakhovsky was a 7-5 6-3 winner over Austria's Alexander Peya.
Fourth seed Andy Roddick battled to a 6-3 7-5 victory over France's Arnaud Clement in a match lasting an hour and 43 minutes.
The American got the better of a topsy-turvy first set while a single break in the 11th game of the second proved crucial, although Roddick still had to come back from 0-40 in the final game to clinch the win.
Roddick will next face Romania's Victor Hanescu, who beat Mikhail Youzhny 6-2 6-4. It was a surprisingly easy victory for the world No.48 against the Russian, who was ranked in the top 10 less than 12 months ago.