Davydenko, Haas Advance to Quarterfinal Showdown at US Open

Seventh-seeded Nikolay Davydenko needed only 36 minutes Wednesday to complete a 6-1, 5-7, 6-3, 6-0 victory over 19-year-old Scot Andy Murray and book a spot in the US Open quarterfinals for the first time in his career.

The Russian, who recorded his 70th career win on hard courts, improved to 53-22 in the season after resuming the match Wednesday leading two sets to one. He is riding a nine-match winning streak dating back to New Haven, where he captured his third title in 2006 (also won at Poertschach and Sopot).

This is the third time this season that Davydenko advances to the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam event. At the Australian Open the 25-year-old won four matches before losing to eventual champion Roger Federer while at Roland Garros he fell to David Nalbandian at the same round.

Davydenko next plays German former World No. 2 Tommy Haas, who defeated 2000 US Open champion Marat Safin 4-6, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2, 7-6(5) to reach the quarterfinals at Flushing Meadows for the second time in three years.

Haas, who also needed a fifth-set tie-break to win his third-round match against Robby Ginepri, will attempt to reach a Grand Slam semifinal for the first time since the 2002 Australian Open and for just the third time of his career. The 14th seed won the Los Angeles title three starts ago - his third US hard court title of the season (Delray Beach, Memphis).

Safin, who came into the tournament at No. 104 in the INDESIT ATP Rankings, survived a fifth-set tie-break in his second-round victory over David Nalbandian.

Haas said: "We both had one other [fifth-set tie-break] before this, so it was tough knowing that one of us was going to lose 7-6 in the fifth. But I'm very excited to be in the quarters here again." (ATP)