Top seed Andy Murray survived a scare before advancing to the quarter-finals of the Valencia Open 500. The Scot dropped the second set against Leonardo Mayer before recovering to defeat the Argentine 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 Thursday at the ATP World Tour 500 tennis tournament.

Murray, who made his return from a six-week wrist injury lay-off with a straight-sets win in the first round, looked set for another comfortable victory as he broke serve once in the seventh game of the first set to seal a one-set lead. World No. 64 Mayer hit back strongly, though, breaking serve twice as he raced to a 5-0 lead in the second set. Murray was able to recover one of the breaks, but could not prevent the Argentine from levelling the match.

The experience of World No. 4 Murray won out in the third set, though, as the Dunblane native broke serve in the sixth game to open up a 4-2 lead before going on to close out victory with his eighth ace after two hours and 22 minutes.

The 22-year-old Murray became the third player (joining Djokovic and Nadal) this season to win at least 60 matches as he reached the quarter-finals (or better) for the 13th time in 16 tournaments. Together with Rafael Nadal, he leads the ATP World Tour with five titles this year, including at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events in Miami (d. Djokovic) and Montreal (d. del Potro).

Second seed Nikolay Davydenko and fourth seed Fernando Verdasco, both strong contenders to clinch a singles berth and join Murray at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals later this month, cruised into the quarter-finals.

Davydenko knocked out Juan Monaco of Argentina 6-3, 7-5. The Russian countered losing serve twice by converting four of the nine break points he created to seal victory in one hour and 42 minutes.

Davydenko, who is currently No. 7 in the year-to-date South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings, will add 90 points to his total if he reaches the semi-finals of the ATP World Tour 500 tennis tournament. He finished runner-up to Novak Djokovic in the final of the 2008 season climax, held in Shanghai.

"I felt really good on the court, I still feel confident about the tournament and hope I can get better game after game," said Davydenko.

After injuries impeded his progress in the early part of the season, 28-year-old Davydenko has hit back by reaching the quarter-finals or better at nine ATP World Tour events since July. The right-hander captured back-to-back titles at the International German Open (d. Mathieu) in Hamburg and the ATP Studena Croatia Open (d. Ferrero) in Umag during the summer before later excelling during the Asian swing, titling at the Proton Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur 2009 (d. Verdasco) and the Shanghai ATP Masters 1000 presented by Rolex (d. Nadal).

Later in the day, Verdasco defeated Serbian Janko Tipsarevic 6-3, 6-3. The 2004 champion broke through in the eighth game of the first set and quickly opened up a 2-0 lead in the second set. Tipsarevic, who received treatment for a right leg injury at the conclusion of the first set, was handed a lifeline as he broke back to level at 3-3. However, the right-handed Tipsarevic squandered a 40-15 lead in the following game and fourth seed Verdasco went on to win the last three games of the match.

Having played just three ATP World Tour 500 tournaments this season, the 25-year-old Verdasco can count every point he earns in Valencia this week towards his total in the year-to-date South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings. The Spaniard, who reached the Australian Open semi-finals (l. to Nadal) in January, is currently in eighth position and has added 90 points by reaching the quarter-finals.

Verdasco could eliminate a qualification rival in Friday's quarter-finals when he faces countryman Tommy Robredo, who defeated Feliciano Lopez 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in an all-Spanish second-round clash to add 45 points to his tally.

"Games against Tommy are always hard," said Verdasco, looking ahead. "He’s really good at defending and has a really good drive in all directions. The only thing I can do to thwart his techniques is try and play my best and do an aggresive game."

The 27-year-old Robredo, who is 15th in the year-to-date Rankings, still has an outside chance of qualifying for the season finale at The O2 in London, but must reach the final in Valencia this week to keep his hopes alive. The Hostalric native captured back-to-back ATP World Tour titles at the Brasil Open (d. Bellucci) in Costa do Sauipe and the Copa Telmex (d. Monaco) in Buenos Aires in February.

"Winning against such a competitor on this kind of court makes me feel really good and confident at this final stage of the tournament," said Robredo. "I feel good about what I’ve done so far and hope I can keep up to this standard."

Mikhail Youzhny continued his strong finish to the season by reaching his ninth ATP World Tour quarter-final. The No. 2 Russian (behind Davydenko) won 70 per cent of service points to knock out Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 in one hour and 35 minutes. 

Youzhny won his fifth ATP World Tour trophy at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow (d. Tipsarevic) two weeks ago and also reached the finals at the BMW Open in Munich (l. to Berdych) and the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo (l. to Tsonga). At No. 23 in the South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings, he is hoping to clinch a third Top 20 finish.

Defending champion David Ferrer was forced to withdraw from his second-round match with fellow Spaniard Albert Montanes due to a hamstring injury, ruling him out of contention for one of the two remaining spots at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. The 2007 Tennis Masters Cup finalist needed to regain the Valencia title this week to keep alive his hopes of qualifying for the eight-man event.

Estoril and Bucharest winner Montanes next goes on to face top seed Andy Murray for a place in his third ATP World Tour semi-final of the season.