• French Open, Day Nine

Nadal passes stern Bellucci test, Djokovic struggles on

Rafael Nadal was tested by Thomaz Bellucci © Getty Images

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Rafael Nadal was pushed hard by Thomaz Bellucci in the fourth round at the French Open before he eventually emerged with a 6-2 7-5 6-4 win.

World No. 29 Bellucci matched the four-time winner for periods of each of the three sets - particularly the second - but he was unable to exert any sustained pressure on his opponent.

Nonetheless, it was a tigerish effort from Bellucci - who had never got past the first round at Roland Garros before this year - and he tested Nadal as much as anyone has in the tournament thus far.

Nadal's pre-eminence on clay remains all too evident, though, and it is hard to see who will have the mental and technical acumen to overcome him on the red dust. He has still not lost on the surface in 2010, and he has just one defeat from his six French Open visits to date.

The world No. 2 will face Nicolas Almagro in an all-Spanish quarter-final after he took out seventh seed Fernando Verdasco in four sets. Almagro proved a stubborn force throughout as he retrieved several shots from deep in the corners and closed points out in clinical fashion to complete a 6-1 4-6 6-1 6-4 success.

Novak Djokovic bounced back from a second-set collapse to reach the last eight with a 6-4 2-6 6-1 6-2 victory over Robby Ginepri.

The No. 3 seed, a two-time semi-finalist at Roland Garros, was again forced to overcome the difficulties on his first serve that have plagued his season.

With the Serbian concerned solely with getting the ball in play from his delivery, he placed himself under huge pressure to dominate the groundstroke battles.

More often than not he was able to dictate rallies against the world No. 98, but on the basis of this showing he has little chance of troubling Nadal - who has twice beaten him at the last-four stage.

As if the service difficulties weren't enough to contend with, Djokovic seemed to be struggling for fitness - his breathing looked shallow during changeovers. Despite this, he vowed to bring an attacking approach to his matches in the later rounds.

"I played really good in the third and fourth sets," Djokovic said. "I had some really good matches on clay recently. Now I'm in the quarter-finals and I need to keep playing aggressively." He moves on to face Jurgen Melzer, who defeated Teimuraz Gabashvili 7-6(6) 4-6 6-1 6-4.

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