Novak Djokovic of Serbia hits a return to Feliciano Lopez of Spain during their men's singles match at the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament in Shanghai, east China, on Oct. 15, 2015. Djokovic won 2-0. (Xinhua/Fan Jun)

Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal reached quarterfinals of the Shanghai Rolex Masters on Thursday.

World number one Djokovic of Serbia, aiming for his third Shanghai Masters title, defeated 15th-seeded Feliciano Lopez of Spain 6-2, 6-3 in just 71 minutes.

Djokovic called the shots in the match, and registered 22 winners to just 13 from his opponent while making only 17 unforced errors to 28 of Lopez.

The Serb has collected eight titles this year, including three Grand Slam titles.

"I think it's a combination of the two - maintaining the high level, the performance, the tennis I have right now, and also working on certain parts of the game that I think can be improved," Djokovic said of his success.

"I was brought up that way and thought to always look for some room for improvement. I still believe there are shots in my game that can be better. I think that's one of the things that keeps me going. It motivates me to play more."

Djokovic shall meet Bernard Tomic of Australia or 11th seed Richard Gasquet of France.

Scot Murray overcame a first set slump to make last eight with with a 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-4 win over American John Isner.

"I think I am hitting the ball clean from the back of the court. I'm not making loads of unforced errors," the 28-year-old Murray said after the two-hour, 31-minute victory.

"Today I made some bad decisions at certain times. My shot selection could have been a bit better at the important moments. But then when I was break points down, I came up with some really good tennis," he added.

The world number two was made to work in the first set with both players unable to break or even have a breaking chance. Isner was better in the tiebreak and drew the first blood after winning 7-4.

Murray, a two times winner at Shanghai, looked more comfortable in the next two sets and began to hit stride with his all-court groundstrokes.

Murray's reward will be a quarterfinal clash against fifth seed Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic.

Rafael Nadal of Spain hits a return to Milos Raonic of Canada during their men's singles match at the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament in Shanghai, east China, on Oct. 15, 2015. (Xinhua/Fan Jun)

Elsewhere, former world number one Nadal overcame Milos Raonic of Canada 6-3, 7-6 (3) to reach quarterfinals.

The Spaniard will take on fourth seed Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland, who almost battled three hours to edge past former US Open winner Marin Cilic of Croatia.

In the last quarterfinal, South African Kevin Anderson will play against Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

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