Nadal wary of Murray as he looks to prolong grand slam wait

Despite never winning a grand slam title, Murray's opponents are still wary of his ability.

However, the 23-year-old Spaniard knows what it takes to win a major having already claimed six in his impressive young career.

Murray, who is a year younger than Nadal junior, is still waiting to claim his maiden major success, with his appearance in the 2008 US Open final the closest the Scot has come to breaking Britain's 74-year wait for a male grand slam singles champion.

And while Nadal will be hoping to extend that drought further when they meet this morning, the Spaniard is confident Murray will lift one of tennis's four major trophies at some stage in his career.

"He is going to have a lot of chances to win a grand slam and I think he is going to do it for sure," Nadal said ahead of today's match which starts at 7.30pm local time (8.30am GMT) on the Rod Laver Arena.

"He has enough results from the past to be confident of a win at a grand slam. I don't think Andy has to prove anything to anybody. He can win for sure."

Nadal holds a 7-2 win-loss record against Murray but is wary of the Scot after his dazzling displays at Melbourne Park so far in which he has not dropped a set.

"Playing Andy is one of the toughest matches you can have on the circuit," Nadal said.

"To beat him you have to be able to fight at every single moment and then see what happens.

"He can play every single shot well. He serves very well. He can play defence, he can attack, he has good hands.

"He uses his sliced backhand very well and he's able to change his hands very quickly to play drop shots.

"He has a lot of options in his game and that's a big advantage. We both have our own weapons."

Roger Federer will play his recent nemesis Nikolay Davydenko in the quarter-finals after the Swiss brushed aside local hope Lleyton Hewitt yesterday.

The world No 1 produced a masterclass to stun Hewitt, and an expectant capacity crowd at Rod Laver Arena, 6-2 6-3 6-4.

Earlier, Davydenko withstood a Fernando Verdasco fightback to progress 6-2 7-5 4-6 6-7 (5/7) 6-3 and set up what could be a spicy encounter with the Swiss.

The 28-year-old Russian has beaten Federer in their past two meetings and last week said the top players were "scared" of him following a recent run of form that has seen him lift the ATP World Tour Final and Doha titles.

Novak Djokovic, the 2008 winner, eased to a routine 6-1 6-2

7-5 win over the world No 86 Lukasz Kubot. Djokovic will face his first seed in the next round after Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the 10th seed, won his first five-set match against Nicolas Almagro 6-3 6-4 4-6 6-7 (6/8) 9-7.