Birthday beating for Murray

Nadal: Convincing victory

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Rafael Nadal gave Andy Murray a tennis lesson on his 21st birthday as he earned a comfortable straight sets victory in the Hamburg Masters.

Murray had nothing to celebrate as he turned 21 as Spaniard Nadal produced a dominant display to book his place in the quarter-finals in Hamburg, winning 6-3 6-2.

World number two Nadal was in no mood to hand Murray any birthday gifts and he was ruthless in the success that saw him join Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic in the last eight.

"My game was 50 percent better, the foot is better, I practiced a lot before this game and it showed," said Nadal after his victory, which took just over an hour.

Murray thought he had his chances but was yet again left to mull over another Nadal defeat.

"His forehand is incredible on clay, I think it's one of the best in tennis," said Murray.

"I had my chances against him, but with a guy like that he is virtually unstoppable once he goes on the front foot."

Fed stroll

Federer strolled into the quarters with a 6-3 6-2 win over Robin Soderling.

The defending champion will meet Fernando Verdasco in the last eight after the Spaniard beat compatriot David Ferrer 7-6 6-2.

Federer, who has won only one title this year, suffered a surprise defeat to Radek Stepanek in Rome last week but was always in command against Soderling.

The world number one hit 24 winners and made just 10 unforced errors on his way to a sixth career win is six meetings with Soderling.

"I controlled things from the baseline and I served well when I had to," Federer later said.

"He has a big game, a big serve, but I retrieved it well and scrambled well.

That was important."

Verdasco reached just his second quarter-final of the year with his shock victory over fifth seed Ferrer.

Djokovic in last eight

Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic joined them in the quarter-finals after winning a tough match with Croatia's Ivo Karlic 7-6 6-3.

The Australian Open champion wasted an early break in the first set against the 6ft 10in Karlovic and almost paid the price.

Karlovic moved a mini-break ahead in the tiebreak but his failure to put away a smash handed it back and world number three Djokovic got the decisive edge with an unplayable return on the next point.

The second set was easier for the Serb, who looks in great shape after winning in Rome last week and can look forward to a quarter-final against Spain's Albert Montanes.

Montanes progresses after a 6-2 6-1 demolition of Janko Tipsarevic, while Andreas Seppi beat Juan Monaco 6-0 6-3.