The Czech, runner-up at Wimbledon last year, was pushed hard by Tursunov who grabbed his one break point chance of the match to extend the contest into a deciding set.

"It was a close match between two players who play their best tennis on this surface and today I was the luckiest one," fourth seed Berdych told reporters.

"Now I will have my first match against (Jo-Wilfried) Tsonga on the tour and I am happy about that but it won't be easy."  Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis also reached the last eight as he followed his impressive win over Andy Murray on Wednesday with a 7-6, 6-3 win over Feliciano Lopez of Spain.

"It was a tricky match after beating Murray yesterday, the conditions on this court were good to Lopez as he always comes in," Baghdatis told reporters.

"It is hard to get him into a rally and then you get no rhythm, so I had to take the few chances I got."  Baghdatis now plays Croatian Ivan Ljubicic who continued his good form at a tournament in which he was finalist in 2005 and 2007/ He brushed aside French qualifier Benoit Paire 6-0 6-4.

Top seed Robin Soderling will be in action later today against Philipp Kohlschreiber.