It took Nadal only 61 minutes to knock off Ferrero, as he saved all five break chances he faced while converting on five of seven to improve to 5-1 lifetime against Ferrero and avenge his loss in their previous meeting in August in the quarter-finals of the ATP Masters Series Cincinnati.

“For sure, it’s important for me, the victory after last year losing in Cincinnati against him 7-6 7-6,” Nadal said.

“So for me, it’s fine. I’m in quarter-finals, that’s good tournament for me.

“Right now, I gonna try my best to continue like this and try to go to semi-finals, and have same result like last year.”

Meanwhile Roddick beat 15th seed Richard Gasquet of France 7-6 (7-3) 6-3.

Roddick has reached at least the fourth round at Indian Wells in each of the past four years, advancing to the semi-finals in 2005.

Both players will be relishing their chances of victory at Indian Wells following the shock elimination of top seed Roger Federer, who entered this hardcourt event as three-time defending champion with a 41-match winning streak, but was stunned by Guillermo Canas of Argentina on Sunday.

In other fourth-round matches, eighth seed Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia rallied for a 2-6 6-4 6-2 victory over number David Nalbandian of Argentina and 30th seed Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina defeated American Michael Russell 6-4 6-4.

In the women’s event, Maria Sharapova, Martina Hingis and Nadia Petrova all crashed out, leaving Svetlana Kuznetsova as the only top-five seed left in the women’s draw at Indian Wells.

Top seed Sharapova suffered a 6-4 5-7 6-1 fourth-round collapse to 15th seed Vera Zvonareva.

The Russian had won the last three match-ups with her compatriot but fell apart after serving for the match in the second set, winning just one of the final 11 games.

“I wasn’t moving well at all,” Sharapova said. “I missed a lot of first balls. They got returned.”

With Sharapova holding a 5-3 lead in the second set, Kuznetsova broke and won the next three games to even the match.

She took that momentum into the final set as her opponent unravelled.

Second-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova, another Russian, had a much easier time than Sharapova against number 16 Ai Sugiyama of Japan.

The 2004 U.S. Open champion, Kuznetsova advanced with a 6-2 6-2 victory.

Hingis of Switzerland was eliminated, while No. 4 Nadia Petrova of Russia bowed out of her match.

Hingis was sent packing by 14th-seeded Daniela Hantuchova of the Czech Republic, who posted a 6-4 6-3 triumph.

Petrova dropped the first set 2-6 and was down 1-0 in the second against 13th-seeded Tatiana Golovin of France when she retired due to heat exhaustion.

Hingis led 3-1 in the second set of her match but failed to take advantage against Hantuchova, who also defeated her in the 2002 final at Indian Wells for her only WTA title.

“I was thinking about it a lot,” Hantuchova said. “It was such a joy for me to be out there. I was enjoying it so much and can’t tell you how many memories it was bringing back to me. And really, just being on the court, and with Martina, it was definitely something special.”

Hingis, who won at Indian Wells in 1998, failed to reach the quarter-finals for the first time in her seven appearances.

Sixth seed Nicole Vaidisova of Russia booked a spot in the quarters with a 4-6 6-3 6-2 victory over number 17 Marion Bartoli of France but 10th seed Ana Ivanovic of Serbia was upended by number 33 Sybille Bammer of Austria 6-7 (6-8) 6-0 6-3.

In another minor surprise, 11th-seeded Shahar Peer of Israel got past No. 8 Anna Chakvetadze of Russia 6-4 7-6 (7-2).