Mikhail Youzhny hopes to continue his recent revival in Montreal but will have his work cut out against three time winner and current world No.9 Rafael Nadal. Check out the Nadal vs Youzhny Head to Head.

Youzhny has had a torrid 2015, going just 6-18 prior to this event. He qualified thanks to wins over John Patrick Smith and Pierre Hugues Herbert before completing shock wins against Viktor Troicki and Gilles Simon in fairly straight forward fashion, not losing a set in any of his matches.

It signifies an impressive turnaround for the Russian who lost to a player ranked outside the top 400 last month and has fallen outside the top 100 himself, a mighty fall for the once top-10 player. A win tonight will ensure his return there but he is currently 99 in the live rankings.

Nadal hopes to keep his momentum going against an opponent he is 12-4 against and 7-0 against in the last seven – spanning a 7 year time frame. Nadal extended his winning streak to six with victory over Sergiy Stakhovsky to go with his Hamburg title.

The pair last met at the Australian Open where Nadal won easily in straight sets 6-2 6-3 6-2. While Youzhny seems to have found some form, the Russian has been on the decline for a while and will find it hard to take advantage against the Spaniard. Working in his favour though, despite having played 4 matches this week already, will be that none of them were lengthy affairs.

A quarter final date with Kei Nishikori or David Goffin awaits the winner. Nadal leads the head to head with Nishikori 6-0 but was mightily fortunate to win the last encounter after the Japanese star’s body failed him in the late moments. It is also worth noting the level of improvement by Nishikori over the period the head to head lasted.