Kuerten crushed Kafelnikov 7-5, 6-1 and produced some super baseline tennis on Rome's red clay to suggest he may once again figure next month at Roland Garros, where he won his first major title two years ago.

Moya was beaten 6-3, 7-5 by Argentine "lucky loser" Franco Squillari, who returned when 11th seed Todd Martin dropped out with an injured shoulder.

In the day's other big tie, US Open champion Pat Rafter produced his best performance for nine months to survive a second set fightback by Andre Agassi and win 6-1, 7-6 (7-4).

Kuerten will face Slovak Karol Kucera, who came from a setdown to beat Britain's Tim Henman 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 in a gruelling floodlit late match which lasted two hours 24 minutes.

Australia's Rafter will meet Ecuador's Nicolas Lapentti while Squillari'sprize for defeating Moya is a quarter-final clash against another Spaniard, world No.7 Alex Corretja.

Hingis in quarters

BERLIN: World No.1 Martina Hingis cruised through to the quarter-finals of the German Open today with a straightforward 6-4, 6-1 win over Russian Elena Likhovtseva.

Top seed Hingis, chasing her first triumph in the Berlin clay-court event, was leading 4-1 in the second set when a heavy shower halted play. But the sky soon cleared and the 18-year-old Swiss sealed victory. She will now face Austrian Barbara Schett, seeded 16th, for a place in the last four.

Schett, a semi-finalist in Hamburg earlier this month, beat sixth seed Nathalie Tauziat of France 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 after a close battle.