Rafa Nadal & Novak Djokovic Into Quarters

1 month ago 16th Oct 11:10

Rafael Nadal continued his return to form as he progressed to the quarter finals of the Shanghai Masters with a straight sets win over compatriot Tommy Robredo.

The world number two was barely troubled by Robredo in the opening set as raced to a 6-1 lead showing all the signs of being close to his best.

Robredo made more of a match of it in the second set as he opened up a 2-0 lead over the top seed.

But Nadal, despite struggling a little with his serve, dug deep to prevent a three set decider. He wrapped up the match 6-1 6-4.

Speaking to the BBC after the match the Spaniard said: "I am playing well. But I played two terrible games at the start of the second set so I have to improve in situations like this if I want to beat the top players."

He will face now face Ivan Ljubicic later today.

The second seed Novak Djokovic also had an easy passage to the quarter finals as he saw off Rainer Schuettler 6-4 6-2.

Schuettler went toe to toe with Djokovic in the early part of the first set and Djokovic needed just one break of serve to secure the opener.

But the Serb put his foot on the gas in the second and Schuettler had no answer for Djokovic's dominant play.

He will play Gilles Simon in the next round later today.

But yesterday the length of the season was thrown into question again as Gael Monfils was forced to retire from his match against Ivan Ljubicic.

The Frenchman was 6-2 3-0 behind when he called it a day due to a back issue. And he wasn't the only one as Stanislas Wawrinka halted his match against Radek Stepanek because of abdominal injuries.

Despite a straight sets 6-3 6-4 over Tomas Berdych Frenchman Gilles Simon is struggling with a knee issue.

However Robin Soderling had another impressive win as he crushed Jo-Wilfred Tsonga 6-3 6-3 while Nikolay Davydenko also had a straight sets win over Fernando Gonzalez.

Quarter Final Line-Up

- Robin Soderling vs Feliciano Lopez
- Rafael Nadal vs Ivan Lubicic
- Nikolay Davydenko vs Radek Stepanek
- Novak Djokovic vs Gilles Simon.