• Rogers Cup

Nadal sees off qualifier Anderson

Roger Federer had too much quality for Michael Llodra © Getty Images

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It may be Rogers Cup, but Rafael Nadal remains the top seed in Toronto after seeing off qualifier Kevin Anderson 6-2 7-6 to reach the quarter-finals.

Nadal looked to have blown out the cobwebs evident in his second round opener to end the hopes of the plucky South African in quick fashion. Anderson matched Nadal at 2-2 in the first set but it quickly ran away from him.

Nadal looked on course for an even more comfortable victory than he was eventually afford when racing to a 4-2 lead in the second set but Anderson fought back with a break before taking the tie-break to 8-6 in a gallant effort from the world No.87.

Nadal next faces Philipp Kohlschreiber, who he has beaten in all six of their previous matches, after the German got past Yen-Hsun Lu 6-7 7-5 6-0.

Roger Federer overcame a slow start to move into the quarter-finals with a 7-6(2) 6-3 win over Michael Llodra.

Llodra produced some impressive play early on and secured a break of the world No. 3's serve. Federer opted to mix things up by playing from the baseline and also chipping and charging and broke back in the seventh game with a superb pass that Llodra could not handle.

The set went into a breaker and Llodra made a terrible start by double faulting. Federer needed no second invitation and closed out the set in impressive fashion.

The Swiss raced into a 5-1 lead in the second set, but faltered with the match in his grasp as Llodra broke back. It proved to be only a brief setback as Federer regrouped and held serve, closing out the match with an ace.

"You have to make sure you hold serve and not make too many mistakes and then you hope for the best," Federer said. "It is always nice to come back from six weeks break. It is nice to get a couple of wins early on. I am in the quarters now, so I am excited to be playing well."

Second seed Novak Djokovic struggled with the heat on Wednesday and he was again forced to play in the bright sunshine on Thursday but he didn't stay out there for long, knocking out Victor Hanescu 6-3 6-4 in around 80 minutes. Next up for Djokovic is Jeremy Chardy who caused a shock by claiming a comfortable 6-3 6-2 win over No. 6 seed Nikolay Davydenko.

Tomas Berdych had to dig deep to claim a 6-3 6-7(5) 6-4 win over Alexandr Dolgopolov. The Czech lost the second set in a tiebreak and had the trainer on to treat a leg complaint, but dug deep to move into a quarter-final clash with Federer.

David Nalbandian's purple patch continued as he came from a set down to beat Robin Soderling 4-6 6-4 6-1.

Soderling is one of the most feared players on the circuit but Nalbandian was at that level before injury intervened and he seems to now be finding his way back to his best and this was his 11th win on the spin.

It was not all one-way traffic as Nalbandian struggled on serve in the first set, being broken twice, but upped his level in the second and he played some big shots against the Soderling second serve and duly levelled the match despite squandering three set points.

Nalbandian squandered two break points at the start of the final set, but took the third with a crunching drive.

The Argentinian grew in confidence as the set progressed and he earned a double break in the fifth game. He earned the break point with a glorious lob and a brilliant forehand at the feet of Soderling sealed the break.

Soderling could not find an answer to the brilliant play of Nalbandian who hit winners at will off both wings and wrapped up the match when the Swede threw a forehand over the baseline.

"I was out for a long time with injuries, but felt great last week and have got confidence," Nalbandian said. "I am at a good level and want to keep going. I feel perfect. I have played 10 matches in eight days or so, but I am confident. I feel strong and am healthy."

Nalbandian will be an interested spectator later in the evening as he will play the winner of the match between Andy Murray and Gael Monfils.

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