MELBOURNE, Australia (AP): The "Rafa Slam" is still alive after Rafael Nadal beat Marin Cilic 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 at the Australian Open on Monday to maintain his chance of owning all four Grand Slam trophies at once.

That's a feat which hasn't been achieved since Rod Laver won four majors in 1969.

Playing on Melbourne Park's center court that is named after the Australian legend, Nadal advanced to a quarterfinal against Spain's David Ferrer as he attempts to add to the Grand Slam titles he won last year at the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open.

Nadal hasn't dropped a set through four rounds at Melbourne Park, despite carrying the effects of a virus he picked up two weeks ago in Qatar.

"Before the match I was a little bit nervous," Nadal said. "I know how aggressive he can play. I think I played my best match this year here at the Australian Open."

At Nadal's previous match, he sweated profusely in a night match Saturday, saying he was still feeling the effects of the virus. On Monday, thanks to cooler temperatures in Melbourne and his slow recovery, the problem had abated.

"I'm not sweating that much tonight," Nadal said. "The two other days I was sweating like crazy and I felt very tired when I played the match. Today was the first day I felt perfect physically."

A capacity crowd of 15,000 that included American country music star Kenny Rogers - sitting next to seven-time Grand Slam singles winner Evonne Goolagong Cawley of Australia - saw Nadal struggle at times on his serve.

The fourth game went to deuce four times, but Nadal finally prevailed on his service with a forehand smash at the net, followed shortly by his patented "Vamos" as he walked to the back of the court.

In the next game, he set up one of four break points with an amazing get of a Cilic drop shot at the net, sending it across the court to the side line for a winner. He converted for 4-1 and, after serving a double fault on his first set point, Nadal took the opening set when Cilic netted a backhand.

Nadal went ahead 4-3 on a service break in the second set, then clinched it when Cilic, who beat American John Isner in five tough sets on Saturday, hit a forehand long. He advanced when Cilic double-faulted on match point.

"It's tough to say. From this match, I didn't push him too much," Cilic said when asked to guage Nadal's fitness and form. "You couldn't see how much does he have in the tank and, I mean, especially as I didn't play great.

"But definitely he's got good confidence."

Earlier, fifth-seeded Andy Murray also advanced to the quarterfinals, setting up a possible semifinal with Nadal.

"I don't want to get carried away," Murray said after his 6-3, 6-1, 6-1 win over Jurgen Melzer of Austria. "I've never won one of these things before."

The win put Murray closer to a second straight appearance in the final at Melbourne Park, where he lost to Roger Federer last year after beating Nadal in the quarterfinals.

He also came close to ending a woeful British streak - no male winner of a Grand Slam since Fred Perry in 1936 - at the 2008 US Open, where he lost final to Federer.

Before Murray gets a potential crack at Nadal, he'll face an unexpected quarterfinal rival after 22-year-old Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov had an upset 1-6, 6-3, 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 win over fourth-seeded Robin Soderling, ending the French Open finalist's eight-match winning streak.

"He's got a very unorthodox game, very different to most of the guys on the tour," Murray said of Dolgopolov. "He has a game that can make you play strange shots or not play that well."

Dolgopolov said his father, Oleksandar, worked as a coach for the likes of Andrei Medvedev, so he sometimes hit with the players when they were practicing and the family was on tour.

"For sure I had some good times. I was a bit maybe annoying for some players to play with me," he said. "It was nice to start a tennis career like that."

No. 7 David Ferrer set up a quarterfinal match against fellow Spaniard Nadal with his 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 win over 20-year-old Canadian qualifier Milos Raonic, who'd upset No. 10 Mikhail Youzhny in the third round.

Soderling hadn't dropped a set during his surge that started with his run to the title at the Brisbane tuneup event. He dominated the opening set but couldn't keep it up against Dolgopolov, who is making his fourth appearance in a major and was coming off a five-set win over former Australian Open finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Dolgopolov's cross-court backhand to bring up his first match point was typical of the 50 winners he hit against a stunned Soderling, the highest of the seeded players knocked out of the men's draw.

Soderling saved three match points, but his run came to an end with another unforced error, his 51st.

No. 2-ranked Vera Zvonareva continued her roll toward a third consecutive Grand Slam final with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Iveta Benesova.

Zvonareva, who lost the Wimbledon final to Serena Williams and the U.S. Open final to Kim Clijsters last year, moved into a quarterfinal match against No. 25 Petra Kvitova, who rallied to beat No. 22 Flavia Pennetta 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.

No. 12 Agnieszka Radwanska beat China's Peng Shuai 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 and will meet the winner of Monday's later match between Clijsters and Ekaterina Makarova.

Zvonareva said she ignores the doubters who say she doesn't deserve her ranking because she hasn't won a major.

"There are a lot of people that always underestimated me and ... and there are a lot of people that thought I never will make it to even like Grand Slam semifinals or something," she said. "But it doesn't really matter to me ... the most important thing is that I believe in myself."

Murray, who knows that feeling about not having won a Grand Slam, has lost just 22 games in four matches.

"I'm not expecting to go through the tournament winning matches like that, with that scoreline," Murray said. "I'm ready for that mentally when it does get tough."

NEW DELHI (AP): The Indian government fired Commonwealth Games organizing committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi on Monday following allegations of corruption.

Sports Minister Ajay Maken ordered the removal of Kalmadi and an aide following a request from federal investigators, who felt that their presence was hindering investigations into graft charges.

The Kalmadi-led organizing committee has also been accused by Australian and British companies of delaying payments to them for services rendered during the Oct. 3-14 games.

"Various matters were being probed and dues had to be settled at the earliest after proper verification," Maken said.

Organizing committee secretary-general Lalit Bhanot was also fired.

The committee will now be run by chief executive Jarnail Singh, a former civil officer.

Maken, who took over as sports minister from Manohar Singh Gill following a reshuffle of India's ministers last week, had ordered last Thursday that all payments to foreign companies be made within 10 days.

Some Australian companies are reported to have been preparing a lawsuit against the organizers of the games and Australian foreign minister Kevin Rudd even took up the matter with his Indian counterpart S.M. Krishna last week.

Payments are also due to British satellite broadcaster SIS Live and ES Projects, another British company which helped build temporary stands and stadia for the games.

Some companies from France, Italy and Singapore are also owed money.

Allegations of corruption dogged India's hosting of the Commonwealth Games as the budget for the games ballooned to $15 billion from an estimated $412 million.

The CBI earlier this month conducted raids on a dozen offices of Commonwealth Games officials and registered a criminal case against director-general V.K. Verma for allegedly buying equipment at inflated prices.

The agency had in November arrested three officials of the organizing committee - M. Jayachandran, T.S. Darbari and Sanjay Mahendroo - and accused them of forgery and cheating related to the awarding of games-related contracts.

All three were released on bail later as the CBI failed to press charges against them.