Top seed Nikolay Davydenko and third seed Andy Murray reached the quarter-finals of $1.5 million Qatar Open in contrasting style in Doha on Wednesday.
Davydenko, ranked fourth in the world, knocked out France's Fabrice Santoro with a regulation 6-3, 6-3 scoreline to set up an all-Russian clash against Dmitry Tursunov on Thursday.
The eighth-seeded Tursunov got a walkover from Germany's Nicolas Keifer who pulled out of Wednesday's match because of a shoulder injury.
Murray, however, won a topsy-turvy match against former champion Rainer Schuettler of Germany 1-6, 6-0, 6-1.
Murray will take on Sweden's Thomas Johansson, a 6-3, 7-5 winner over Michael Berrer of Germany, in the quarter-finals.
In other quarter-finals, defending champion and fourth seed Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia will meet sixth seed German Philipp Kohlschreiber while Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka will take on Argentine Augustin Calleri.
Ljubicic got a walkover from Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic, who pulled out with a fever, while Calleri continued his fine run with a 6-3, 6-1 win over South Korean Hyung-Taik Lee. Calleri upset second-seeded Spaniard Tommy Robredo in the first round.
Murray was a slow starter and Schuettler benefited from the Briton's erratic game in the opening set. The German broke Murray in the second and sixth games to claim the set 6-1.
But world number 11 Murray broke the German three times -- in the second, fourth and sixth games.
In the decider too Murray gained an early upper hand with breaks in the second and sixth games and never looked back, wrapping up the set and match with a cross-court passing shot.
"I am pleased with the way I hung in there and won. I changed my style of play in the second and third sets. I came to the net more and used the slice shots," Murray said.
Davydenko broke Santoro once in the first set and had two breaks in the second.
"There are 250 points here and I would like to win the tournament," the Russian said.
"Today, I was confident playing from the baseline. I could control the game," he added.