Nalbandian, Haas Into Quarterfinals at ATP Munich

"I think I played very, very good today. I had a great feeling," Nalbandian said. "I'm much more confident after this match -- I didn't play for a while. I had a virus for two months and it was very tough for me to come back and play my first match. I didn't feel very well in my first match, but today I felt much better."

For Haas the win is a rebound on clay after failing last week to defend his dirt title at Houston.

"It's always nice to play on German soil, it's nice to have the crowd behind you," Haas said. "It's going to get tougher but I'm happy to win two matches again, being in the quarterfinals and have a chance to maybe reach another semis."

Orchestrating upsets Thursday were Dutchman Raemon Sluiter (d. defending champ (2) Davydenko in three sets), Finnish qualifier Jarkko Nieminen (d. (3) Ancic), Aussie Wayne Arthurs (d. (6) Andreev 7-6 in the third), and Argentine Juan Monaco (d. (7) Srichaphan in three).

No. 5 seed Andrei Pavel escaped the upset with an uneven 6-1, 1-6, 6-1 win over Dutchman Sjeng Schalken, while unseeded Slovak qualifier Michel Mertinak (d. Mello, bagel in the second) also advanced.

On tap for the Friday quarterfinals in Munich are (5) Pavel vs. "Everybody Loves" Raemon Sluiter, Wayne "The Serving Machine" Arthurs vs. (4) Haas, (1) Nalbandian vs. Juan "The Principality" Monaco, and an all-qualifier match-up in Nieminen vs. Mertinak.