Andy Murray beat Austria's Jurgen Melzer in the Rome Masters to set up a quarterfinal clash with world No.1 Rafael Nadal of Spain.
Murray produced a determined display to win 7-6 (7-1), 6-4 Thursday, reports Xinhua.
Nadal overcame a slow start to ease to victory over Mikhail Youzhny 6-7 (7-4), 6-2, 6-1.
Andy Murray, who turned 27 Thursday, won 15 points from 16 to win the first set tie-break and raced to a 2-0 lead in the second set.
"To be honest it's not a bad thing for me to play Nadal because I haven't played him for a long time," said Murray.
"With the French Open and Wimbledon coming I would be quite interested to play him to see how his game has changed and all the things I can do to make it difficult for him," he added.