By Bill Scott Jul 25, 2008, 2:54 GMT
Toronto - Rafael Nadal rolled Russian Igor Andreev 6-2, 7-6 (7-1) in a Thursday power display to underline his intention of winning a second career title at the Toronto Masters.
The Spanish number two, top man in the field after the shock second-round elimination of Roger Federer, was untested by Andreev, who rolled his ankle in the opening game, got a taping and gamely continued.
Nadal improved to 58 victories this season against seven losses.
'It was much better for me than yesterday,' said Nadal. 'I played well today, but I'll have to work on my break points,' he added, after converting on only two of nine.
The Paris and Wimbledon winner was joined by the other contender chasing Federer's four-year-old number-one ranking.
Defending champion Novak Djokovic is trying to gain ground of his own behind Nadal, now less than 800 points from overtaking Federer for the top ranking spot.
Djokovic put out Swede Robin Soderling 6-4, 6-4.
In the ranking race, nothing can change this week, though Nadal is gaining on Federer, whom he beat for the Wimbledon title three weeks ago.
'I played as much as I needed to play,' said Djokovic, favourite of Toronto's Serbs, who are packing the stands for his matches.
'I didn't serve well at the start. He put quite some pressure on me. But in the most important moments I played my best tennis. That's what matters.'
German Nikolas Kiefer scored an upset comeback over fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Gilles Simon, who upset Federer, won an eighth consecutive match for the first time in his career. The French Indianapolis champion turned in a 6-3, 6-4 win over Jose Acasuso to advance into a match with Marin Cilic, who stunned angry Andy Roddick 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.
Roddick smashed a racket in frustration after a dispute with chair umpire Carlos Berardo in the seventh game of the final set, over a replay in which the official admitted making an error. But the release of emotion did little for the sixth-seeded 2003 US Open winner, who was never able to close the gap.
Number seven James Blake staged his second straight comeback to escape Dmitry Tursunov 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, while eighth seed Andy Murray beat number nine Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland 6-2, 0-6, 6-4.
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