Top seed Pablo Andujar came through a two hour and 20 minute battle against Filippo Volandri before booking his place in the quarter-finals of the Serbia Open in Belgrade.
Spaniard Andujar, winner of the Hassan II title in Casablanca last month, was broken twice as he dropped the first set against the world number 73 before fighting back to triumph 4-6 7-5 6-2.
Andujar will face the Czech Republic's Lukasz Rosol in the last eight after Rosol won 7-6 (7/4) 6-3 against Romanian Victor Hanescu in a match which saw one solitary break of serve.
Frenchman Benoit Paire beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 4-6 7-5 7-5 but must wait to learn his last-eight opponent with Jarkko Nieminen leading Antonio Veic 5-3 in the first set when their match was suspended for the night.
