BARCELONA (Reuters) - Second seed David Ferrer came through a gruelling 4-6 6-4 6-3 struggle with Nicolas Lapentti to reach the quarter-finals of the Barcelona Open on Thursday.

However, Argentine third seed David Nalbandian suffered a surprise 6-3 6-1 defeat by Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland.

Spaniard Ferrer looked on course for a straightforward win when he led 3-0 in the first set but in the end it took him two hours, 31 minutes to wear down the Ecuadorian.

He will play Spanish sixth seed Tommy Robredo, who held off a second-set fightback by last year's runner-up Guillermo Canas of Argentina to win 6-1 7-5.

World number 83 Lapentti, who was ranked as high as sixth in 1999, beat 13th seed Fernando Verdasco in the first round, recovered from a poor start and won five of the last six games in the opening set to move ahead.

World number five Ferrer broke in the 10th game of the second set to level at one set apiece and then broke again in the sixth game of the decider before serving out for victory.

Nalbandian, a quarter-finalist in Monte Carlo last week, led Wawrinka 3-1 and had break points to go further ahead, but the Swiss hit back to beat the Argentine for the fifth time in succession.

Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela set up a likely quarter-final with Spanish top seed Rafael Nadal after a battling 2-6 6-4 6-3 win over Latvian Ernests Gulbis, while another Spaniard, Albert Montanes, also advanced to the last eight.

Nadal takes on fellow Spaniard and 16th seed Feliciano Lopez in the third round later on Thursday.

(Editing by Pritha Sarkar)