Rafael Nadal © Gallo Images

Nadal, who saved five match points before taming Nicolas Almagro in another all-Spanish battle on Wednesday, needed two hours and 20 minutes to shrug off a brave challenge from Robredo, seeded 14th in the indoor event.

"I didn't play my best but I played better than yesterday and managed to play big rallies without making mistakes, so that's positive," Nadal said.

Robredo had his chances, serving for the match in the third set, leading 5-4, but Nadal lived up to his reputation as a fierce competitor to recover and seal victory.

Roger Federer's second-round exit in the French capital on Wednesday means Nadal stands an outside chance of finishing the year as world number one.

Before contemplating that accolade he must beat defending Paris Masters champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the world number nine, who swept aside fellow Frenchman Gilles Simon 6-2 6-3.

"The conditions will be good for him with a fast court and the crowd on his side," Nadal said. "He will be the favourite but I'll do my best."

TIRED MURRAY

France will have two players in the quarterfinals for the first time since 1992 after 15th seed Gael Monfils posted a 6-4 6-3 win over Julien Benneteau, who looked exhausted after his shock victory over Federer in the previous round.

Britain's world number four Andy Murray looked tired, too, when he lost 1-6 6-3 6-4 to Czech Radek Stepanek.

Despite having battled for over two hours to beat James Blake on Wednesday, finishing in the middle of the night, Murray started well against Stepanek, relying on his strong serve, but then collapsed, making many unforced errors.

"Obviously, I was not at my best but I was not expecting to (be)," Murray told reporters. "It was four o'clock by the time I got to bed and that's not the ideal preparation for a match."

Stepanek now faces US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro, who moved past Chile's Fernando Gonzalez in dramatic, late action.

Gonzalez won the first set 7-6 and world number five Del Potro had just won the second by the same score after surviving seven match points when the Chilean pulled out with a sore right knee.

Murray will now rest before going to London where he could meet Swede Robin Soderling, who kept alive his slim hopes of entering the year-end event by beating Russia's Nikolay Davydenko 6-3 3-6 6-4.

Soderling goes on to meet world number three Novak Djokovic, who cruised past Frenchman Arnaud Clement 6-2 6-2 to reach the quarterfinals in Paris for the first time.

DJOKOVIC DOWNS SODERLING IN PARIS MASTERS

Novak Djokovic wrecked Robin Soderling's hopes of a first-ever appearance in the ATP World Tour Finals by beating him 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 in the Paris Masters quarterfinals on Friday.

Soderling, who made the final of the French Open the last time he played in Paris in June, went into the match knowing that he needed to at least reach the final here to clinch the eighth and final spot in the season-ending tournament which takes place in London from November 22-29.

But having lost all four of his previous encounters with the young Serb, the Swede knew he would have to produce something special.

Djokovic broke first in the third game to move out into a 3-1 lead, using the drop shot to destabilise an opponent who preferred to let loose with his trademark forehand drives from the baseline.

Soderling was carving out break points galore but failing to take them against the third seed until he finally bagged one to level at 4-4, running down another Djokovic drop shot to whip the ball past him.

The next game, however, saw him gift three unforced errors in a row to Djokovic who broke for the second time and then served out for the set.

It was Soderling, though, who dominated the start of the second set using his big forehand and heavy serve to full advantage as he jumped out into a 3-0 lead.

A further break in the sixth game was enough to ensure Soderling worked his way back to level terms as his opponent looked to be wilting.

Djokovic, last year's Tour Finals winner in Shanghai, found his serve under threat again at the start of the deciding set but dug deep to hold on.

Games continued to go with serve with neither man blinking in what had developed into a tense encounter until the eighth game when two unforced errors on the backhand side followed by a double fault from Soderling gave Djokovic three break points.

Soderling saved the first of these, but then netted a weak backhand to hand the break to the third seed who made no mistake in serving out for the match.

It was the first time that Djokovic has reached the last four in Paris and he will meet the winner of the match opposing title-holder Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France and second seed Rafael Nadal of Spain.

The remaining spot in the Tour Finals will go to Fernando Verdasco of Spain, who lost here on Thursday, unless Tsonga successfully defends his title on Sunday.

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