Rafael Nadal gave his fragile confidence a huge boost on Thursday with a 6-3, 6-2 defeat of German Philipp Petzschner for a place in the quarter-finals of the ATP Montreal Masters.

The four-time Roland Garros champion, who is playing this week for the first time since May 31 after resting his injured knees, won his second match in less than 24 hours as he humbled Petzschner in an impressive 69-minute showing.

The Spanish second seed missed on his first match point with a nervous double-fault but fired home a winner on his second try to advance.

Roger Federer was bidding to reach the last eight later, playing in his second all-Swiss showdown of the season with good friend Stanislas Wawrinka.

Third seed Andy Murray stayed in touch with his dream of seizing the world number two ranking from Nadal, stopping Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-1, 6-3.

Murray needs to reach the semi-finals, and also hope that defending champion Nadal – back after more than two months away nursing knee tendinitis – does not progress into the final four.

Murray has now won all three of his matches with former number one Ferrero, beating the 29-year-old Spaniard on grass this summer at Queen’s and Wimbledon. Victory took 77 minutes as the Scot never faced a break point.

“I played better and better as the match went on. If you can get a good start in all your matches it’s going to make a big difference to whether you win or lose.”

He now stands 47 wins and seven losses this season, with four titles earned and next faces Nikolay Davydenko, a 7-6 (7/2), 7-5 winner over Fernando Gonzalez.

Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, seeded fourth, reached the last eight with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Russian Mikhail Youzhny.

Djokovic won this event two years ago in Montreal, while Nadal won last year in Toronto as the event alternates between the cities.

“I played quite solid, as much as I needed to,” said Djokovic, who is falling out of the mix in the discussion of top players as Federer, Nadal and Murray dominate.

Andy Roddick, seeded fifth, came good after Fernando Verdasco saved two match points, with the American three-time Wimbledon finalist defeating the tenth-seeded Spaniard 7-6 (7/2), 4-6, 7-6 (7/5).

“He was just crushing any ball, I was just trying to kind of fight him off for as long as I could,” said Roddick. “That ended up being enough.”

Roddick will next meet Djokovic after winning their last two meetings, including January’s Australian Open quarter-finals.

“It’s always tough with Novak, we’ve certainly had some battles already in our career. We’re pretty aware of what the other does well.

“It goes without saying that I’m going to have to play well if I want to advance.”