Australian Marinko Matosevic has reached his first Masters Series quarter-final and booked a showdown with 12-times grand slam champion Rafael Nadal in the process.
Matosevic needed two-and-a-half hours to defeat Frenchman Benoit Paire 7-6 (9-7) 6-7 (10-12) 6-3 at the Montreal Masters - but the reward was a big one.
Fourth seed Nadal, playing his first event in seven weeks since losing in the first round at Wimbledon to Belgian Steve Darcis, beat Polish 15th seed Jerzy Janowicz, a surprise semi-finalist at the All England Club, 7-6 (8-6) 6-4.
The wildly inconsistent Paire produced 16 aces and a dozen double-faults while saving eight of 13 break points against Matosevic.
Coming off his quarter-final run at the Washington Open last week, qualifier Matosevic will now get the chance to go one better when he squares off with Nadal on Friday.
Nadal, a winner of seven titles already this year, was pleased with his victory.
"I had a very good victory today against a very difficult opponent," Nadal said.
"I did a few things well and there are a few things I need to improve a little bit more.
"In general, I'm pleased with the way I played."
The French Open champion has now won 45 matches since his return in February from a seven-month injury lay-off.
Wimbledon champion Andy Murray slumped to a shock 6-4 6-3 defeat to Latvia's Ernests Gulbis.
Murray, who had won all five previous meetings with the colourful Gulbis, saw his 13-match winning streak ended.
The world No.2 now heads to Cincinnati for a final chance to tune his hardcourt form ahead of his US Open title defence starting in New York on August 26.
Gulbis went through in less than 90 minutes with three breaks of Murray, twice a champion in Canada.
Ranked 38th in the world, Gulbis reached his third career quarter-final at the Masters 1000 level but first since Madrid in 2010 where he lost to Roger Federer.
"I struggled at the start of the first set from the baseline, but then I got more aggressive and took my opportunities," said Gulbis, who next faces Milos Raonic, who upset Juan Martin del Potro 7-5 6-4.
Top seed Novak Djokovic dropped the opening set but recovered quickly to earn a 2-6 6-4 6-4 win over Denis Istomin in the late match to book a quarter-final against French seventh seed Richard Gasquet, who beat Japan's Kei Nishikori 1-6 6-3 6-3.
