Paris: Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic overcame big servers Thursday to reach the Paris Masters quarter-finals.
Nadal beat last year's runner-up, Jerzy Janowicz, 7-5, 6-4, and Djokovic rallied from a set down to top John Isner 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-2.
Roger Federer, defending champion David Ferrer, Juan Martin del Potro, Tomas Berdych, Stanislas Wawrinka and Richard Gasquet also won their third-round matches.
The tournament has turned into a rehearsal for the ATP World Tour Finals, with the eight quarter-finalists also the eight players who qualified for the London tournament next week. Wawrinka and Gasquet grabbed the last two spots at the season ending-event when Berdych eliminated Milos Raonic of Canada 7-6 (3), 6-4.
Nadal broke for a 6-5 lead before whipping a forehand winner down the line to take the first set.
The top-seeded Spaniard and Janowicz traded breaks early in the second set before the Pole double-faulted to hand Nadal a 3-2 lead. The US Open champion won when Janowicz's forehand sailed long.
"I tried to move him, because if he plays in a good position, he has a great shot," Nadal said. "I think for a moment my return was unbelievable today. I returned amazing balls."
Nadal will face Frenchman Gasquet, a 6-3, 6-2 winner over Japan's Kei Nishikori. Djokovic couldn't find a breakthrough in the first set as Isner saved six break points to force the tiebreaker and won it when Djokovic's backhand sailed wide.
The second-seeded Serb raised his game in the second set, making only two unforced errors and breaking Isner twice.
"I just needed to be very tough mentally and just believe I can make a break," Djokovic said. "I knew as soon as I make a break I'm going to start playing better and relaxed in a way, so that's what happened."
Djokovic won the last five games of the match, finishing off the American with a backhand volley. Djokovic stretched his winning streak to 14 matches after taking the China Open and the Shanghai Masters titles in October.
"In China, I have had probably the best two weeks of the year, except at the beginning of the year, so it gives me a lot of confidence," Djokovic said. "I feel that I'm back mentally where I need to be, and hopefully I can maintain this winning streak and I can kind of keep on playing better and better."
The Australian Open champion will face Wawrinka, who beat Nicolas Almagro of Spain 6-3, 6-2. The seventh-seeded Swiss player overcame a 3-1 deficit in the first set and broke Almagro twice in the second.
Federer also moved into the quarter-finals by dismissing Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany 6-3, 6-4.
The fifth-seeded Federer saved three break points and broke once in each set, improving his record against Kohlschreiber to 8-0.
"I'm just really focused on trying to win as many matches as I can, get some momentum going, and getting in form," Federer said. "I felt good again for the second straight day here in Paris. It's still early in the tournament, and it's a good thing that I feel so good so early. I hope to maintain this kind of a play, and if possible try to get just a touch better."
Federer, who won the Paris Masters in 2011, will meet del Potro in a rematch of last weekend's Swiss Indoors final. The fourth-seeded Argentine overcame Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Del Potro broke for a 5-4 lead in the deciding set before hitting a forehand winner on match point.
Spain's Ferrer cruised past Gilles Simon of France 6-2, 6-3, to set up a match against Berdych. Berdych saved three set points in the tiebreaker against Raonic before firing a forehand winner to convert his sixth set point. Raonic dropped serve in the opening game of the second set and lost the match when he sent a forehand return long.
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