• Rome Masters

Nadal eases past Lopez in Rome

Rafael Nadal served with authority against Feliciano Lopez © Getty Images

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Rome Masters Seedings

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Rafael Nadal overcame Feliciano Lopez to reach the quarter-finals of the Rome Masters, despite looking far from 100 per cent in his 6-4 6-2 win.

Nadal was almost toppled by little-known Italian Paolo Lorenzi in the previous round and there are rumours suggesting the Spaniard is suffering from a virus.

He looked far better on court against Lopez, in truth he could not really have looked any worse than he did on Wednesday, and did enough to ease into the last eight.

Lorenzi employed the drop shot to good effect against Nadal and Lopez had clearly been watching as it was a stroke he pulled out early on.

However, unlike against Lorenzi when Nadal looked laboured in his movement and tentative in his hitting, he was rapid around the court and forward in his hitting - and it paid off early on with a break. He showed his blistering speed to retrieve a ball into the corner and then chased down a drop shot to set up break point and his power play forced an error from the Lopez racket to secure the break.

Lopez looked like wilting under the pressure, but held to get on the board in the fourth game and broke to get back on serve at 3-4 as Nadal's pace dropped.

Nadal steadied ship to lead 5-4 and was gifted the first set as Lopez lost the game to love when serving to save the set.

The world No. 1 was controlled more than clinical and it was a similar story in the second set. His ground strokes were hit with depth and precision, with the occasional forehand spitting up off the clay, and he served at 88% of first serves in.

He worked a break of serve at 3-2 in the second set and it handed him the platform to progress, as Lopez faltered after dropping his serve. Nadal nows faces Marin Cilic, who defeated 11th seed Mardy Fish 7-6(6) 6-3.

Novak Djokovic is now just nine matches away from breaking John McEnroe's record for the best start to an ATP Tour season, after the Serb beat Stanislas Wawrinka 6-4 6-1. In a repeat of the 2008 final, Djokovic chalked up win No. 34 of a phenomenal year, extending his win streak over the Swiss to eight consecutive matches.

Also victorious on Thursday was Robin Soderling, who beat clay-court specialist Nicolas Almagro 6-3 3-6 6-4 to set up a quarter-final with Djokovic.

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