Andy Murray maintained his unbeaten record at the Shanghai Masters coasting to a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Alexandr Dolgopolov.
Murray, the two-time defending champion, will now face Radek Stepanek in the quarterfinals after the Czech veteran saw off the challenge of American John Isner 6-4, 6-7, 6-3.
"I think I did a decent job," the U.S. Open champion said. "It's very, very different conditions to last week. I think you can see by some of the results here, the guys that have come from Beijing have adapted to the conditions much, much quicker.
"So, yeah, I just tried to stay solid and go for the lines too much early on. I tried to keep the ball low. He's very explosive when the ball's up around his shoulders. Just tried to keep the ball low, play solid, and I served well."
Murray then elaborated on the marked difference between the courts at last week's Japan Open and the ones at Shanghai. "The conditions in Tokyo, the last few matches, it was very hot," he said. "The court here is playing quick.
"But the balls compared with last week are completely different. I think they use the same balls in Beijing, the Head balls. They use Shricksen in Japan, which they don't use on any other tournament on the tour. They're quite heavy, hard balls. These ones are pretty light.
"A lot of the matches I've watched, the matches have gone pretty quick. It feels like the court's playing a bit faster and the balls are moving quickly. I mean, I've seen a few matches that have finished in under an hour, which these days doesn't happen too often. There's been quite a lot of quick matches."
Murray, who got a walkover in the second round after Florian Mayer withdrew, completely controlled the first set against Dolgopolov, but there were some frustrating moments in the second, particularly after his opponent broke the world number three's serve.
"I got a bit frustrated at the beginning of the second set," Murray admitted. "I had just broken serve and played a bad game to get broken back. I wanted to try and finish the match as best as I could.
"I gave away the momentum that I had and let him back into the match. So sometimes it can be better to get your emotions out and move on. I managed to do that by breaking the next game.
"Better to not let it fester sometimes and maybe let it affect you for a few games. Like I say, I got the break in the next game, so that was good."
Murray knows Stepanek will be a tough opponent and the Scot expects a difficult match. "He's one of the few guys that still plays at the top of the game in singles and doubles," Murray added. "He's incredibly fit for his age. I think he's maybe 33, 34 now. He's in great shape. He's incredibly quick and flexible. He has a very different game style to a lot of the guys now.
"He's a character on the court, as well. He likes to entertain, too, and can frustrate guys. I'll need to make sure I'm focused and patient and take care of my side of the court."
Roger Federer tipped Murray to reach the world number one ranking next year, and the Scot admitted he would have to maintain his consistency to get to that magical mark.
"To get to No. 1 I don't think it's necessarily so much about confidence, it's more about consistency, focus, being able to focus throughout the whole year and be consistent from the first tournament right the way through to the last one, which a few years ago I was doing pretty well," he said.
"The last couple years I've performed better in the Grand Slams and been consistent in them, but struggled in other tournaments. I'll need to improve my consistency if I want to get to No. 1."
Results: Roger Federer bt Stanislas Wawrinka 4-6, 7-6, 6-0; Novak Djokovic bt Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-3; Andy Murray bt Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-2, 6-2; Tomas Berdych bt Sam Querrey 6-2, 6-7, 6-4; Jo-Wilfried Tsonga bt Marcos Baghdatis 6-2, 7-6; Tommy Haas bt Janko Tipsarevic 6-2, 6-1; Radek Stepanek bt John Isner 6-4, 6-7, 6-3; Marin Cilic bt Fernando Verdasco 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.