Intro:

Rafa Nadal eases through to quarter finals beating Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 6-1, 6-4 on Thursday (8th May).

Script:

At the Madrid Open, Rafa Nadal was up against Finland's Jarkko Nieminen in the third round looking to qualify for the quarter finals.

Nadal had not lost a quarter final on clay for nine years prior to last month when he was eliminated in the quarters at Monte Carlo.

He then suffered a second successive quarter final elimination in Barcelona.

Nevertheless, the Spaniard was in top form against Nieminen as he breezed past him 6-1 6-4 to set up a quarter final encounter with Tomas Berdych.

The Czech player was up against Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov in the third round.

And the sixth seed was faced with slightly more difficult task as Dimitrov took the first set 6-3.

However, Berdych came back in style eventually sealing the match win 3-6 6-3 6-2 to set up his meeting with Nadal in the quarters.

Finally, Kei Nishikori continued his recent good form on the clay courts.

The Japanese player is fresh from his triumph at the Barcelona Open and he too is through to the quarter-finals in Madrid.

He overcame Canada's Milos Raonic following two tie breaker sets, 7-6 7-6.