MONACO – Eight-time champion Rafael Nadal had little trouble reaching the quarterfinals of the Monte Carlo Masters, beating Italian Andreas Seppi 6-1, 6-3 on Thursday.
Having looked a little rusty in the second round on Wednesday, where he trailed 3-1 against Teymuraz Gabashvili, the Spaniard was more clinical this time and raced into a 4-0 lead.
The top-seeded Nadal was only briefly troubled in the second set when Seppi broke him to love to pull back to 4-3 down. But Seppi could not hold and Nadal served out the match.
He next faces sixth-seeded David Ferrer or No. 12 Grigor Dimitrov.
Nadal won the tournament eight times in succession before losing last year's final to Novak Djokovic.
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