Rafael Nadal notched his 26th straight victory as he defeated Russia's Igor Andreev 6-2 7-6 (7-1) in the third round of the Rogers Cup.
Nadal has won his last four tournaments, including his fourth consecutive French Open crown and his first Wimbledon championship. The 22-year-old has been ranked second in the world for a record 157 weeks, but his recent dominance has him nipping at the heels of Swiss star Roger Federer - the world No.1 since February 2004.
Nadal's chances of ascending to the top of the rankings got an unexpected shot in the arm Wednesday, when unseeded Gilles Simon posted a 2-6 7-5 6-4 second-round upset of Federer, who reached the final of this hardcourt event last year before losing to Novak Djokovic.
It was anticipated that Nadal might dethrone Federer by the end of the US Open, but that could happen sooner following Wednesday's developments. Should Nadal win this tournament, he will have a chance to overtake Federer at next week's event in Cincinnati.
Playing his first match since the epic five-set final with Federer at the All England Club, Nadal was sluggish at the start of his second-round match on Wednesday. The 2005 champion fell behind American qualifier Jesse Levine 4-1 in the opening set before finding his form and rolling to a 6-4 6-2 triumph.
The ATP leader this season with six titles and 57 wins, Nadal won for the third time in four meetings with Andreev, who upset No.16 Tomas Berdych to reach the third round.
Nadal next will face Frenchman Richard Gasquet, who ousted fifth-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer 6-3 6-3.
The third seed and defending champ, Djokovic took another step toward a potential semi-final clash with Nadal, moving into the quarterfinals with a 6-4 6-4 triumph over Sweden's Robin Soderling. Djokovic next will take on eighth-seeded Scot Andy Murray, who beat ninth-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland 6-2 0-6 6-4.
The reigning Australian Open champion, Djokovic has played well this season, posting a 40-9 record and three titles. But he has been frustrated by Nadal in recent months and no doubt is looking to redeem himself.
Following his most recent title at Rome, Djokovic was ousted from three consecutive events by Nadal, who won their semi-final clashes in Hamburg and Roland Garros in addition to a showdown in the Queen's Club final.
The 21-year-old Serb actually was in position to steal the No.2 ranking away from Nadal in two of those meetings but was unable to capitalise and fell to 3-9 in the all-time series.
The opposite half of the draw here has been left somewhat wide open due to the early exit of Federer. Two other big names were sent packing on Thursday.
No.4 Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, who was the highest remaining seed in this half of the bracket after the loss of sixth-seeded American Andy Roddick, was eliminated by Germany's Nicolas Kiefer 4-6 6-4 6-4.
Roddick also is finished after dropping a 6-4 4-6 6-4 decision to unseeded Croatian Marin Cilic. The 25-year-old star, who won here in 2003, has been slowed by a shoulder injury recently and is just 4-3 since the start of June.
The lone player remaining from the United States is seventh seed James Blake, who has taken advantage of the diluted draw thus far, eliminating Russian Dmitry Tursunov 4-6 6-1 6-4, in the third round.
The 28-year-old Blake, who has reached