Halle, Germany – Fresh off his seventh French Open title, Rafael Nadal was an easy second-round winner Thursday at the $835,000 Gerry Weber Open, a grass-court Wimbledon tuneup.
Coming off the red clay in Paris, the former world No. 1 Nadal made a seemless transition to the grass in Halle with a 75-minute 7-5, 6-1 handling of Slovak Lukas Lacko at Gerry Weber Stadium. Nadal is playing his first singles tennis in Halle since 2005.
Nadal's quarterfinal opponent on Friday will be eighth-seeded German crowd favorite and reigning titlist Philipp Kohlschreiber, who came from behind to best Poland's Lukasz Kubot 6-7 (5-7), 6-1, 6-3.
Kohlschreiber beat Philipp Petzschner in last year's all-German finale here and was the Halle runner-up in 2008.
Another Day-4 German victory came from wild card Tommy Haas, as the oft- injured former world No. 2 whipped sixth-seeded Spaniard Marcel Granollers 6-3, 6-4.
Up next for the 2009 Gerry Weber champion Haas will be third-seeded 2007 titlist and 2006 Halle runner-up Tomas Berdych.
Also seeing action Thursday in Halle is five-time tournament champion and former runner-up Roger Federer, who is currently battling German Florian Mayer.
The 2012 Gerry Weber champ will collect $150,000.
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