<notforsyndication>Australian Open - Day 8</notforsyndication>
Gilles Simon will play Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open after the pair reached the last eight in vastly different circumstances, but Andy Murray's tournament is over after he crashed out to Fernando Verdasco 2-6 6-1 1-6 6-3 6-4.
Nadal eased past 13th seed Fernando Gonzalez 6-3 6-2 6-4, while Simon progressed courtesy of the retirement of his friend Gael Monfils with a wrist injury.
It was not the way the Frenchman wanted to make the last eight in a Grand Slam for the first time.
‘You never want to win like this. It's already strange when it's another player but when it's a friend like Gael it's more difficult,’ the 24-year-old said after being 6-4 2-6 6-1 up when the 12th seed was forced to quit.
‘I have a quarter-final to play in two days and I just have to focus on that.’
It was a strange opening set between the countrymen, who had never previously played against each other at senior level.
Monfils saved two break points in the fourth game - one rally lasting 45 shots - and after exchanging breaks in the next two games Simon broke again to take a 5-3 lead and then wrapped up the set with a cross court winner.
The 12th seed came out firing in the second set and broke Simon twice to take a 4-0 lead on his way to taking the set.
It was quite the opposite in the third as Monfils began to struggle with his wrist and Simon raced out to a 5-1 lead.
Monfils took a medical time out to get treatment when 4-1 down and a couple of games later was forced to quit.
‘It was 3-0 when I was serving that I started to feel it become very heavy and then at 3-1 for Gilles was when I really felt it,’ Monfils said.
‘Then I asked for the physio. I was thinking maybe it was in my head but then I ask the physio and had to finish.’
Simon later revealed what his tactics would be against Nadal in the quarter-final.
‘I have to run five hours to win. I have no choice,’ he joked.
‘Usually I think that it's easier to play against them (the top players) because you really know what you have to do. You just have to play a perfect match to win. If it's not perfect, you lose.
‘It's easier when you get onto the court. It's easier to stay focused on the match because you know that every point is important.’
While Nadal did not look as sharp as he did when eliminating Tommy Haas in the third round, he did enough to get past Gonzalez, who was undoubtedly affected by his epic match against Richard Gasquet in the previous round.
The world number one raced to a 3-0 lead in the opening set and when Gonzalez broke back to 3-2 Nadal stepped up a gear to eventually run away with the set.
Wild errors from the 13th seed saw Nadal break serve immediately in the second set and the top seed did so again in the fifth on his way to a two-set lead.
Gonzalez responded well, breaking early to take a 3-0 lead in the third. But as his error count rose and his frustration increased Nadal rattled off five consecutive games.
Murray, looking to reach the last eight in Melbourne for the first time, had not dropped a set in the first three rounds but that all changed against Verdasco, the number 14 seed from Spain.
Verdasco, playing in the last 16 for the first time in Australia, had only dropped 12 games himself - the fewest conceded through the first three rounds in the Open era - and as he peppered the baseline and sidelines with winners it was easy to see why.
Murray, who had apparently struggled with headaches and a sore throat prior to his third round match against Jurgen Melzer, insisted that had not been a factor in the defeat.
‘I didn't feel terrible at all. I had my chances,’ the world number four said.
‘He served incredible in the fourth and fifth sets. He deserves the credit for the win.’
Murray took the opening set and also led 2-1, but Verdasco hit back to win the last two sets.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and James Blake had to contend with a fireworks display celebrating Australia Day midway through their night match on Rod Laver Arena.
While the Frenchman came through in straight sets, 6-4 6-4 7-6 (7/3), he admitted the break for the display had been an unwelcome distraction.
‘Yeah, a little bit, because after that I was a little bit stressed,’ said Tsonga. ‘It was difficult to serve just after the fireworks. But I did the job, and I'm happy I did it.’
Blake, however, felt the delay had not contributed to his downfall.
After the fireworks had finished, he raced into a 5-2 lead in the third set but threw away set point and from there Tsonga clawed his way back to force a tie-break, which he won.
The American said: ‘I've dealt with different things. In any match, there's injury time-outs, things happen in the crowd. Anything could happen. We were prepared for that beforehand. They told us that it was going to happen around that time.
‘They wanted to try to do it on a changeover, then see if we wanted to sit it out. If one person wanted to sit and not play through it, then we wouldn't play through it.
‘He didn't want to play through it. So we sat there and waited for, whatever, ten minutes.’
