Rafael Nadal rose to the occasion in front of a hyped-up home crowd as he beat Briton Andy Murray to reach the quarter-finals of the Madrid Masters on Thursday.
The Spanish second seed, his form improving as he plays for the first time in nearly two months after a bout of tendinitis in his left knee, earned a 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 win to next face Argentine David Nalbandian.
Nadal needed more than one hour to claim the opening set of a match between recovering injury victims.
Nadal last played when he lost in the US Open fourth round while Murray missed three months of the spring and summer with a wrist injury.
The Spanish second seed, winner here in 2005, managed to steal the first set, then came out on top after five breaks in the second with a stinging winner on second match point.
"It was a great match for me," the treble Roland Garros champion said. "I played well when I had to. The first set was very important, the second set very tough, it was very competitive. It was draining physically. I'm happy to have survived and very happy to be in the quarter-finals."
The loss put paid to most of Murray's chances of a long-odds advance into a qualifying place for the season-ending Masters Cup next month.
The Scot lost his 13th match of the season, with one title earned at San Jose.
"I had chances and I didn't take them," Murray said. "I played pretty well. It was a long match with a lot of tough points. It could have gone either way. I'm disappointed to lose but it was a good match, I learned from it. I'm happy that I'm back playing at this level and giving the world No. 2 a great match."
Roger Federer came down hard on an outsider who embarrassed him last March, crushing Argentine Guillermo Canas 6-0, 6-3 to blow into the quarter-finals.
The Thursday thunder off the Federer racket made amends for back-to-back defeats the Swiss suffered at the hands of nothing-to-lose Canas in the second round at Indian Wells and the fourth round in Miami.
Those two upset half a year ago are among only six suffered so far by the world number one this season, another raging success for the holder of a dozen Grand Slam titles.
"There was satisfaction in this match, Canas has had a fantastic year. to beat him after two tough losses is nice," Federer said. "I played aggressive and took my chances. I always felt in control. It was a good feeling out there, it's nice to beat him."
The Swiss leads the eight-man field at the wrapup Masters Cup in Shanghai from Nov. 11.
Third-seeded Serb Novak Djokovic ended the hope of 2003 champion Juan Carlos Ferrero with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 victory, the Spaniard saving match points in the penultimate game.
Djokovic has booked his place in Shanghai along with Federer, Rafael Nadal and Russian Nikolay Davydenko.
The 20-year-old Djokovic struck 29 winners and 40 unforced errors as he beat Ferrero for the second time following a victory in 2005.
Justine Henin on Thursday eased into the quarter-finals of the Zurich Open with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Vera Zvonareva of Russia.
Second-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia also advanced, surviving a first-set scare before defeating Austrian Sybille Bammer 2-6, 6-4, 7-5.
Playing in her first match of the tournament, Henin needed time to adjust, committing four double faults in the opening set.
The top-ranked Belgian broke Zvonareva early but allowed the Russian to immediately recover her serve in the following game. Henin made the decisive break at 3-3 when Zvonareva hit the ball long, and then broke again at 5-3.
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