"In the beginning it was very tough, windy," said Nalbandian. "When I got a bit of confidence, I started hitting harder and better, with angles near to the line."
Nalbandian clinched it with his 47th winner.
He will play the winner of the later quarterfinal between No. 7 Ivan Ljubicic and unseeded Marcos Baghdatis, who upset second-seeded Andy Roddick in the fourth round.
Nalbandian said his upset win over top-ranked Roger Federer in the season-ending Masters Cup at Shanghai in November had increased his confidence.
RSS