Intro:

There were wins for top seed Rafael Nadal, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Milos Raonic and David Ferrer in the third round of the Monte Carlo Masters in Monaco on Thursday.

Script:

History beckoned for top seed and world number one Rafael Nadal as he took on Italy's Andreas Seppi in the third round of the Monte Carlo Masters in Monaco on Thursday.

The Spaniard, chasing a ninth win in the event, was one win away from joining an elite group of players with 300 wins on clay in the Open Era.

Nadal took just 74 minutes to become the eleventh player to achieve the feat, brushing aside his opponent in straight sets 6-1, 6-3.

There was a slight wobble in the second set, when Seppi broke serve to love to get back to 3-4, but Nadal recovered to register his 50th win at the tournament.

Next up for Nadal is number six seed David Ferrer.

Ferrer made his way into the quarter-finals after dismissing 12th-seeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 6-2.

Ninth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga dropped the first set in his match against Italian, tenth seed Fabio Fognini, but recovered to take nine of the next twelve games to book his place in the last eight.

There he'll meet fourth seed Roger Federer.

Canada's Milos Raonic moved into the last eight with a comfortable 6-3, 6-4 win over Spanish number eleven seed, Tommy Robredo.

The eighth seed never faced a break point in his 73-minute match and will go on to meet Australian Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland.