Beijing, China (My Sportsbook) - Top-seeded Rafael Nadal, French Open runner-up Robin Soderling and former Beijing champion Marat Safin notched second-round victories Thursday at the $3.337 million China Open.

The former world No. 1 and reigning Aussie Open champion Nadal was tested in a 7-5, 6-7 (4-7), 6-3 victory over former top-10 American James Blake on the hardcourts at the Olympic Green Tennis Center. The 2005 Beijing titlist Nadal moved on in 2 hours, 24 minutes.

The six-time major champion Nadal is now a perfect 7-0 lifetime at this event.

Nadal's quarterfinal opponent will be fellow former world No. 1 Marat Safin, as the unseeded big Russian knocked out seventh-seeded Chilean slugger Fernando Gonzalez 6-3, 6-4 on Day 4. The wild card Safin titled here back in 2004, while Gonzalez was the Beijing winner in 2007.

Safin is 0-1 lifetime against Nadal, with the loss coming two years ago in Montreal.

A sixth-seeded Soderling, meanwhile, leveled Spaniard Tommy Robredo 6-3, 6-3 and Croat Ivan Ljubicic outlasted Poland's Lukasz Kubot 7-6 (8-6), 4-6, 6-4. The qualifier Kubot stunned American star Andy Roddick here on Tuesday.

Friday's other quarters will pit second-seeded Serbian star Novak Djokovic against fifth-seeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, fourth-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko versus eighth-seeded Croat Marin Cilic and Soderling against Ljubicic. Davydenko defeated Verdasco in last week's hardcourt finale in Kuala Lumpur.

This week's champion will pocket $500,000.