Tennis:Rafael Nadal saw off the challenge of John Isner this afternoon to reach the quarter-finals of the Madrid Open. The world number three, who was runner-up to Roger Federer here last year, defeated the 6ft 9in American 7-5 6-4 in one hour 27 minutes at La Caja Magica.
Andy Murray cruised into the last eight with a one-sided victory over Romanian Victor Hanescu.
Murray started his tournament with a convincing second-round win over Juan Ignacio Chela yesterday and the world number four was even more impressive today as he downed his giant opponent 6-2 6-1 in one hour and nine minutes.
The triumph for Murray is the first time since Indian Wells in March that the Scot has won back-to-back matches having gone through a barren spell.
Nadal’s fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco was not so successful however, as the sixth seed tumbled out at the hands of Austrian Jurgen Melzer in one of the other early matches today.
In a tie featuring nine breaks of serve, Verdasco, who received lengthy treatment on an ankle problem at the end of the first set, lost 7-5 6-3 to Melzer.
Melzer will now play another Spaniard in the form of Nicolas Almagro, who followed up his shock win over fourth seed Robin Soderling in the second round with a 6-4 6-1 defeat of Argentinian Juan Monaco.
In the women’s event, it finally proved to be a good day for the seeds.
With world number one Serena Williams being knocked out in the third round yesterday, the women’s competition was left with only five of the 16 seeds still standing — with number four Venus Williams the only surviving member of the top six.
However, both seeds playing their third round matches early today picked up victories, with number eight Samantha Stosur defeating veteran Swiss Patty Schnyder 7-6 (7/3) 6-2 to set up a quarter-final meeting with Venus Williams.
Also, 13th seed Li Na, the Chinese number one who is donating all her prize money from Madrid to the relief effort following the recent earthquakes in her home country, beat Alona Bondarenko 6-3 6-4.
Li’s quarter-final opponent will be Shahar Peer, who defeated Arantxa Parra Santonja 7-5 6-2 today.