The rain that kept Rafael Nadal's third-round match going for five days stayed away long enough to thwart his fourth-round opponent and pave the way for the Spaniard to produce his best display yet on grass.

The 21-year-old Spaniard was the last man to get past the third round and, for an hour and a half, looked like being the first to go out at the next stage after losing the first two sets to an inspired Mikhail Youzhny.

But the Russian 14th seed faded badly after suffering a recurrence of a lower-back injury which forced his withdrawal from the Halle tournament last month and Nadal seized on his opportunity to secure a 4-6 3-6 6-1 6-2 6-2 victory.

An ailing Youzhny, who had treatment for the long-standing injury during the rain breaks in his previous match against Jarkko Nieminen, took a medical time-out to have a massage but admitted he was praying for the rain to return.

"I had a week's rest to be ready for Wimbledon and here I was lucky because of all the rain," he said.

"All the many stops helped me and today I was waiting for the rain but it never came."

Packed off to the "champions' graveyard" just 24 hours after accusing the All England Club of not caring about the players, Nadal almost got his comeuppance as Youzhny produced flawless tennis for the first two sets.

After needing 92 hours to see off Robin Soderling in his last match, another long, drawn-out affair was the last thing the world number two needed as he attempts to reach a second successive final.

This one lasted a shade over three hours, a 100-metre sprint in comparison to his marathon with Soderling, and Nadal spent much of it admiring the play of his opponent.

"He played very well and for that reason I couldn't play very well too," he said.

"I played a little bit defensive. His game is very good for this surface.

"But after the first two sets, I played my best game on grass in my life. I have never played like this on grass, very aggressive all the time, serving well and returning very well."

Nadal came from 2-0 down for only the third time in his career to secure a quarter-final clash with seventh seed Tomas Berdych, who is one of only three men to beat the world number two twice in the last 12 months.

There will be no let-up for the claycourt specialist, who will be playing every day to make up for lost time, but he remains unfazed by the prospect and insists he is gaining confidence on grass.

"With every win, you improve your confidence in every surface," he said. "I feel I am playing great.

"Grass is not my worst surface for sure. I played in the final last year, I'm in the quarters this year and I played quarter-finals twice at Queen's so I like playing on grass a lot."