Andy Murray was forced to burn the midnight oil before advancing to the third round at the BNP Paribas Masters.

But the British number one and world number four was made to work against American James Blake, in a repeat of the final at Queen's Club earlier this year.

He finally progressed 6-3, 6-7, 7-6 and will now face Czech Radek Stepanek, a player he has beaten three times without conceding a set.

Murray was kept waiting in the locker room as a day of high drama unfolded at the Palais Omnisport.

All the world's top five were in action and none produced truly convincing performances.

Roger Federer crashed out against Julien Benneteau while Rafael Nadal had to save five match points before edging an equally engaging tussle with fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro.

Elsewhere, Juan Martin del Potro needed three sets to beat Marat Safin in the fiery Russian's final competitive match while Novak Djokovic was far from his best, despite beating Juan Monaco.

Therefore, it was rapidly approaching midnight when Murray and Blake walked on court, a little under three hours behind schedule.

Murray makes no secret that he is not a morning person and while later admitting the waiting had been frustrating, he was quick off the mark.

He broke Blake - whose ranking has fallen to world number 41 - in the fourth game to establish control and closed out the opening set with a sweetly-struck dropshot.

Unfortunately the late finish meant few remained to watch the clash, as the capacity crowd, drunk on the excitement of the earlier matches, staggered towards the soon to close Metro.

But Murray, who won his sixth title of the year in Valencia at the weekend, still looks out of sorts and appeared to be in discomfort with his hip at several points in the match.

Blake lifted his game in the second set, although Murray spurned chances to break as a tie-break loomed, which the American won easily to restore parity.

The deciding set went with serve and while grumpy Murray didn't appear fully fit and let out several anguished screams when shots went wrong, he closed out the match when it mattered for his 64th win of the season.

Federer's earlier defeat leaves the British number one as the top-seeded player in his half of the draw as he looks to go beyond the quarter-finals, where he has lost in the last two years.