Ruthless Rafael Nadal enters Madrid Open quarters

Rafael Nadal returns to Alexei Popyrin during the Madrid Open. Pic/AFP

Rafael Nadal got through another young opponent and showed signs he was getting closer to his best form on clay as he defeated Alexei Popyrin 6-3, 6-3 to make it to the Madrid Open quarter-finals on Thursday.

Nadal overcame eight aces and saved five break points against the Australian. The five-time Madrid champion cruised past Spanish teenager Carlos Alcaraz in the second round on Wednesday. Nadal struggled at times against the aggressive style of the 76th-ranked Popyrin but was able to stay in control for most of the match on the Magic Box center court.

"I knew he was coming with confidence, he has this energy that the young players have," Nadal, 13 years older, said. "From what I could do, it was a good match, and I'm happy to make it to the quarter-finals again here."

Third-ranked Daniil Medvedev lost to Cristian Garin 6-4, 6-7 (2), 6-1. The Chilean broke serve twice in the third set to reach his second Masters 1000 quarter-final.

Thiem through

Earlier, US Open champion Dominic Thiem reached the Last Eight by defeating Alex de Minaur 7-6 (7), 6-4. The third-seeded Austrian is playing in his first tournament since taking a few weeks off after a slow start to his year.

"There were some good, long rallies. I was many, many times out of breath," Thiem said. "It was perfect for me to get back a little bit the match rhythm, to run down a lot of balls. As it's my first tournament, a build-up for the next week, it was great for me."

No. 1 Barty in final

The women's top-ranked player, Ashleigh Barty, cruised into the final with a 6-4, 6-3 win over wild card Paula Badosa, the first Spanish woman to reach the semi-finals in Madrid.

Badosa had been the only opponent to defeat Barty since February. Barty has won 16 straight matches on clay and will be playing in her fourth final this year, having won the previous three.

Bopanna-Shapovalov enter quarter-finals

Madrid: India's Rohan Bopanna combined with his Canadian partner Denis Shapovalov to stun top seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah in straight sets and reach the men's doubles quarter-finals of Madrid Open Masters 1000 tournament here.

This was Bopanna's first win on the ATP tour in 2021. The Indo-Canadian duo won their Round of 16 match 6-3, 6-4 on Wednesday. Bopanna and Shapovalov will take on German duo of Alexander Zverev and Tim Puetz in the quarter-finals.

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