Tokyo, Japan – Reigning champion Rafael Nadal and last round winners at the $1.1 million Japan Open Tennis Championships.
The top-seeded former world No. 1 Nadal handled on-the-mend Canadian Milos Raonic 7-5, 6-3, while the second-seeded Murray smacked 11 aces in mauling overmatched American Alex Bogomolov Jr. 6-1, 6-2 in a mere 59 minutes on the hardcourts at Ariake Colosseum.
The world No. 4 Australian Open runner-up Murray is fresh off his hardcourt title in Thailand and has now won 16 of his last 17 matches overall, including an ATP Masters title in Cincinnati.
Raonic impressed Nadal with his powerful forehand on Day 4, but the young Canadian also amassed plenty of unforced errors in the setback.
"The top players do a few things better than the others," Nadal said. "The matches are decided by very few points. It is on these points where the top players play better."
"I was happy with almost everything today," Nadal added. "I was focused with my serves without mistakes. I lost very few points on my serve in the last set."
Raonic returned to action this week after being sidelined for three months with a hip injury.
Up next for the French Open champion and U.S. Open and Wimbledon runner-up Nadal will be Colombian Santiago Giraldo, while Murray will meet former top- five star David Nalbandian in Friday's quarterfinals.
The 10-time Grand Slam champion Nadal topped Gael Monfils in last year's Tokyo finale.
One other seeded victor on Day 4 was No. 3 Spaniard David Ferrer, who came from behind to beat Aussie qualifier Matthew Ebden 4-6, 6-2, 6-2. Ferrer was the Tokyo titlist in 2007.
Other second-round action saw the oft-injured Argentine Nalbandian top Croat Ivan Dodig 7-6 (7-2), 6-2 and Giraldo ground Russian Dmitry Tursunov 6-4, 7-6 (7-4).
The two other quarterfinals will pit Ferrer against seventh-seeded Czech Radek Stepanek and fourth-seeded American Mardy Fish versus rising Aussie Bernard Tomic.
The 2011 Tokyo champ will collect $295,000.
