Murray crashes out while Nadal is two good

The British star, a finalist at Flushing Meadows 12 months ago, was way off the form that had earned him five ATP Tour titles in 2009 as he suffered a straight sets defeat to Marin Cilic, the 16th seed from Croatia, who won at a canter at Arthur Ashe Stadium, 7-5 6-2 6-2.

Nadal reclaimed the world number two ranking from Murray as he stormed into the quarter-finals with a four-set victory over Gael Monfils.

Nadal came from a set down to France's 13th seed to win 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 6-1 6-3 and set up a last-eight meeting with Chile's Fernando Gonzalez, the 11th seed, who had handed the French their first defeat of the night with a four-set win over seventh seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

"I'm very happy now after the last two matches I played," Nadal said, having improved on previous round performances against Richard Gasquet and Nicolas Kiefer.

"I had a few problems in those but now I'm in the quarter-finals for the third time in my career here and I'm really really happy. I'm here just to play my best and try to enjoy my comeback. For me to come back here and play in the quarter finals is very big, a big result for me so very happy."

Cilic, meanwhile, will face sixth seed Juan Martin del Potro, who spoke of his surprise that he would be facing the Croat and not Murray.

Argentina's del Potro cruised into the last eight with a 6-3 6-3 6-3 win over Spain's 24th seed Juan Carlos Ferrero, setting up a showdown with the 6ft 6ins Cilic, who will be making his first appearance in a grand slam quarter-final.

"Cilic has everything to be a good player," del Potro said. "But Murray is number two, winning everywhere.

"So maybe everybody is surprised but Cilic has very good weapons. If he beat Murray he's confident and it will be a very tough one for me."