Stanislas Wawrinka has come through a near three-hour third-round tie against Marin Cilic at the Shanghai Masters.
The fourth seed will face Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals after a 7-5 6-7(7) 6-4 victory today against Cilic in the first meeting of the year between the two.
The pair exchanged breaks at the start of the match before Cilic had to save two set points in the 10th game.
Wawrinka was finishing the set strongly and Cilic could not hold him off in his next service game as the Swiss converted on his fourth set point to claim the opener 7-5.
Wawrinka maintained his momentum at the start of the second, breaking in the third game before moving 4-2 in front and within two games of the match.
Cilic rallied, though, winning four of the next five games to force the set into a tie-break and the Croat came through 9-7 in the breaker after saving a match point.
In the deciding set it was Wawrinka who broke first to lead 3-1, and he was able to hang on for victory in two hours and 56 minutes.
Pascal Lemesre
