Juan Carlos Ferrero beat Italian qualifier Filippo Volandri 6-4, 6-4 at the Barcelona Open on Thursday to extend his winning streak to nine games and set up a quarter-final meeting with Brazil's Gustavo Kuerten.

Ferrero, the number one seed at the million euro claycourt tournament, needed just an hour and 21 minutes to overpower Volandri and take his place in the last eight.

He was joined by fellow Spaniard Carlos Moya, the second seed, who recovered from a loss of concentration at the end of the second set to beat Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia 6-1, 6-7, 6-3.

Two other high-profile Spaniards were bundled out of the tournament, however.

Albert Costa, the French Open champion and number three seed, fell 6-4, 6-2 to Agustin Calleri of Argentina.

Alex Corretja, seeded eighth, followed his Davis Cup doubles partner out with a 7-6, 6-7, 6-2 defeat by countryman Tommy Robredo.

Defending champion Gaston Gaudio did make it through, but was forced to fight all the way against David Sanchez of Spain before clinching a 7-5, 4-6, 6-1 win in a late match on court number one.

Ferrero's reward for his victory over Volandri will be a match on home territory against Kuerten, the man who has twice beaten him in the semi-finals at the French Open.

Kuerten, seeded seventh, should be feeling fresh for Friday's game after coming through the third round on a walkover when Younes El Aynaoui, the ninth seed from Morocco, was forced to retire from the tournament through illness.

"It'll be a great match for the public," said Ferrero, who lost to Kuerten at Roland Garros in 2000 and 2001.

"He's a three-times French Open champion, one of the best claycourt players in the world, and I'm looking forward to playing him again."

Ferrero will start as favourite following another straightforward victory on Thursday.

After a Davis Cup singles win over Croatia's Mario Ancic and a tournament win in Monte Carlo last week he has now won nine successive matches and Friday's quarter-final should provide a useful guide as to how well Kuerten's recovery is going.

Moya, the French Open champion in 1998, played just as crisply as Ferrero at the start and finish of his game against Hrbaty.

The big Mallorcan looked to have the match wrapped up at 5-3 in the second set but a limp forehand to the net gifted his opponent a break.

Hrbaty took a 4-0 lead in the tiebreak and although Moya came back to 4-4 the Slovak went on to take it 7-5 and force a decider.

Moya quickly re-established his dominance, moving into a 3-0 lead, and that break was enough to set up victory in exactly two hours.

Moya goes on to face Nikolay Davydenko in the quarter-finals after the Russian enjoyed a comfortable 6-4 6-3 win over Argentina's Jose Acasuso.

Davydenko was joined in the last eight by his countryman Marat Safin.

The number four seed, champion in Barcelona in 2000, looked a little short of his best form but he still had far too much power for Jarkko Nieminem in a 6-3, 6-3 victory.

Safin, who lost his opening service game to fall 2-0 behind, recovered quickly to take a 5-2 lead and in the end his victory was simple enough.

The Russian goes through to a quarter-final against 10th-seeded Gaudio, the tournament's surprise winner last year.