David Nalbandian celebrated double good fortune as he closed in on a final berth at the Australian Open with another victory.
The no-fuss Argentine fourth seed put paid to Spanish 16th seed Tommy Robredo with a comfortable 6-3, 6-0, 2-6, 6-2 victory under the closed roof of Vodafone Arena in 2hours and 7minutes.
That came shortly before Andy Roddick, his main rival to play in the final, crashed out of the tournament in a major upset to 54th-ranked Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis next door on centre court.
Nalbandian is now favoured to reach the final from the bottom half of the draw and plays unseeded 33-year-old Frenchman Fabrice Santoro in Tuesday's quarter-finals.
Power-server Roddick was always under pressure against the
54th-ranked Baghdatis and fell 6-4, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Cheered on by a large group of chanting local Greek Cypriots,
Baghdatis, a junior champion here three years ago, rocked the 2003 US Open champion with his mighty forehand to pull off his greatest tennis triumph.
"It's one of the best matches of my life, I'm just in my own world and I'm just playing great tennis," said Baghdatis. "Having the crowd with me, it's just all amazing."
He will now face the winner of Sunday's night match between Croatia's seventh seed Ivan Ljubicic or former winner, Swedish 10th seed Thomas Johansson in Tuesday's quarters.
Meanwhile Santoro, who will play Nalbandian in the quarter-final claimed an upset 6-4 7-5 7-5 victory over 11th seed David Ferrer of Spain.
The 33-year-old Santoro hadn't advanced beyond the fourth round at any of his previous 53 grand slam tournaments in his 18 years on the ATP tour.
His 54th grand slam appearance also makes him joint seventh on the all-time list with Stefan Edberg in the Open era.
Mens Singles 4th round results:
F Santoro (Fra) bt D Ferrer (Spa)
6-4 7-5 7-5,
D Nalbandian (Arg) bt T Robredo (Spa)
6-3 6-0 2-6 6-2
I Ljubicic (Cro) bt T Johansson (Swe)
6-2 6-4 6-4
M Baghdatis (Cyp) bt A Roddick (USA)
6-4 1-6 6-3 6-4
