Australian firebrand Marinko Matosevic has booked himself a quarter-final clash with US Open runner-up Kei Nishikori at the Malaysian Open.
Matosevic marched out of the second round on Wednesday when he beat Nishikori's Japanese compatriot Go Soeda 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 in two hours.
The 29-year-old, nicknamed `Mad Dog, had stunned the rising star of Australian tennis, Wimbledon quarter-finalist Nick Kyrgios, just 24 hours earlier but faces his biggest challenge of the week in the form of top seed Nishikori.
Nishikori downed American Rajeev Ram, who had beaten Australian Omar Jasika in his ATP debut, in a straight-forward match 6-2 6-3 to progress.
Nishikori, in his first match since reaching the final of the US Open, broke the unseeded Ram four times.
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In other matches, fifth-seeded Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay rallied from a set down to pass Ivan Dodig of Croatia, 3-6 7-5 7-5.
Defending champion Joao Sousa of Portugal was eliminated in the first round by Benjamin Becker of Germany 7-6 (7-1) 6-2, and Michal Przysiezny of Poland beat Malek Jaziri of Tunisia, 4-6 6-4 6-2.
