Paris, France (SportsNetwork.com) - Top-seeded Rafael Nadal, second-seeded Novak Djokovic, hot Argentine star Juan Martin del Potro and former world No. 1 great Roger Federer were among Thursday's third-round winners at the $3.65 million Paris Masters tennis event.
Nadal, the reigning U.S. and French Open champion, took down 14th-seeded Pole Jerzy Janowicz 7-5, 6-4. The World No. 1 prevailed despite winning just seven more points than the 6-foot-8 Janowicz, who was the runner-up at last year's Paris Masters. Nadal has never won this event.
The 27-year old Spaniard will take on ninth-seeded Richard Gasquet in the quarterfinals.
The former top-ranked stalwart Djokovic came from behind to beat big-serving 13th-seeded American John Isner 6-7 (5-7), 6-1, 6-2 on the hardcourts at Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy. Djokovic broke Isner on four occasions, while the towering American was unable to break the reigning Australian Open champion on Day 4 in the French capital.
The recent China Open and Shanghai Masters champion Djokovic extended his current winning streak to 14 matches.
"In China, I have had probably the best two weeks of the year, except at the beginning of the year, so it gives me a lot of confidence," Djokovic said. "I feel that I'm back mentally where I need to be, and hopefully I can maintain this winning streak."
Djokovic, who titled here in 2009, will battle Swiss slugger Stan Wawrinka in Friday's quarterfinals.
The fourth-seeded del Potro is trying to reach his fourth final in four events, and he inched closer to doing so by overcoming recent Stockholm champion Grigor Dimitrov 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Del Potro beat Federer in last week's marquee Swiss Indoors Basel finale and the two stars will meet again in a quarterfinal showdown in Paris on Friday.
A fifth-seeded Federer foiled Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 6-4 to improve to 8-0 lifetime against the quality German. Federer was the Paris Masters titlist two years ago.
In other action involving top-10 stars, third-seeded and defending Paris Masters champion David Ferrer leveled 15th-seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon 6-2, 6-3; sixth-seeded 2005 winner Tomas Berdych got past 10th-seeded rising Canadian Milos Raonic 7-6 (15-13), 6-4; a seventh-seeded Wawrinka waltzed past 12th-seeded Spaniard Nicolas Almagro 6-3, 6-2 and ninth-seeded Frenchman Gasquet rolled past Japanese Kei Nishikori 6-3, 6-2. Ferrer and Berdych will do battle on Friday.
Ferrer, who was a runner-up in Valencia in his native Spain last week, bested Janowicz in last year's Paris Masters final.
Wawrinka and Gasquet secured the final two spots for next week's prestigious season-ending eight-player ATP World Tour Finals in London.
This week's big winner will collect $720,000.
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