Rafael Nadal notched his 26th straight victory on Thursday as he beat Russia's in round three of the Rogers Cup.

Spaniard Nadal won for the third time in four meetings with Andreev to set up a meeting with 10th-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet, who beat Spaniard David Ferrer on Thursday.

The third seed and defending champ, Novak Djokovic took another step toward a potential semi-final clash with Nadal, moving into the quarter-finals with a 6-4 6-4 triumph over Sweden's Robin Soderling. Djokovic will now face Andy Murray, who ousted ninth-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland 6-2 0-6 6-4.

The opposite half of the draw here has been left wide open due to the early exit of Roger Federer. Two other big names were sent packing on Thursday.

Number four Nikolay Davydenko of Russia was eliminated by Germany's Nicolas Kiefer 4-6 6-4 6-4.

Andy Roddick is also out after dropping a 6-4 4-6 6-4 decision to unseeded Croatian Marin Cilic.

The lone player remaining from the United States is seventh seed James Blake, who has taken advantage of the diluted draw thus far, eliminating Russian Dmitry Tursunov 4-6 6-1 6-4, in the third round.

The 28-year-old Blake, who has reached the quarters in 10 of 15 events played this year despite the absence of a title, will face Kiefer with a trip to the semi-finals on the line.

Gilles Simon continued to build on his win over Federer with a 6-3 6-4 triumph over Argentina's Jose Acasuso.