Milos Raonic booked his place in the quarterfinals of the Japan Open with a straight-sets victory over Jeremy Chardy on Thursday.
The Canadian, seeded third, needed just one break in each set to secure a 6-4, 6-3 triumph against his unseeded French opponent and will now meet Lukas Lacko in the last eight of the ATP 500 hard-court tournament.
Slovenia's Lacko also came through without dropping a set, overcoming France's Edouard Roger-Vasselin 7-5, 6-4.
The first 11 games of the opening set all went with serve, until Lacko made the breakthrough in the 12th to secure the advantage.
The pair traded breaks in the first two games of the second set, before Lacko took the second match point on offer in the 10th game to seal his passage through to the next round.
Japan's Kei Nishikori was another to book his place in the quarterfinals after a straight-sets triumph over Spain's Feliciano Lopez.
After both players were broken twice in their first three service games, the fourth seed won the first-set tie-break 7-4, before blitzing the Spaniard 6-0 in the second set to set up a clash with Nicolas Almagro in the last eight.
Sixth seed Almagrodefeated Argentina's Horacio Zeballos 6-4, 6-2.
The Spaniard made the crucial break in the fifth game of the first set, before breaking Zeballos in both the first and fifth games of the second to seal a comfortable win.