John Millman has battled into the quarter-finals of the Astana Open by disposing of the threat of Spanish left-hander Fernando Verdasco in straight sets.

The 31-year-old Australian, seeded four in the Kazakhstan tournament, needed just one break of serve in each set to emerge a 6-3 6-4 winner after an hour and 22 minutes.

It set up a last-eight meeting for the man from Brisbane with American Tommy Paul, the seventh seed, who swept past Radu Albot of Moldova 6-4 6-0 in 72 minutes.

It will also be world No.45 Millman’s first appearance in a Tour-level quarter-final since the start of the year when he reached the last eight in Auckland.

Just as a couple of weeks ago, in Cologne, Millman was drawn with the 35-year-old Verdasco and, just like last time, he proved too sharp for the Spaniard, who has fallen in recent weeks to his lowest ranking for four years.

Millman did not drop serve throughout, saving all four break points he faced.

After two key saves in the opening set, Millman broke Verdasco in the eighth game and took the set in 36 minutes.

After saving another break at the start of the second set, Millman broke for a 2-1 lead and was in perfect control for the rest of the match.

American Frances Tiafoe made it into his second quarter-final of the year, upsetting the second-seeded Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic 7-5 6-3.

Tiafoe will next play Belarusian Egor Gerasimov, who defeated Czech Jiri Vesely 4-6 6-3 6-4 victory with the help of 14 aces.