MADRID — Rafael Nadal reached the Madrid Open quarterfinals by easing past Simone Bolelli of Italy 6-2, 6-2 on Thursday. Nadal, a four-time champion, broke Bolelli four times and saved two break points.
Serving for the match, Nadal hit some typically agile shots; earning match point by racing forward to reach a drop shot, then hurrying back to hit a heavy top-spun lob over Bolelli to within inches of the corner of the court.
Tomas Berdych, who beat Nadal in the Australian Open quarterfinals, defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-5, 6-2, and John Isner of the United States downed Nick Kyrgios of Australia, who ousted Roger Federer in a long, tense match in the previous round.
On the women's side, two-time champion Serena Williams and defending champion Maria Sharapova reached the semifinals, and remained on course to meet in the final.
Nadal said he was particularly happy with his serve against Bolelli. His next opponent will be 10th-seeded Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria, who beat eighth-seeded Stan Wawrinka 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-3.
“Dimitrov is a very complete player, one of the best in the world,” Nadal said. “He's proved he's playing at a very high level, and I hope I'll be prepared enough to compete with him tomorrow.”
The top-seeded Williams beat Carla Suarez Navarro 6-1, 6-3, and said the score was not indicative of the match.
Williams is playing in her third tournament since clinching her sixth Australian Open title, and 19th Grand Slam singles title.
She awaits either Petra Kvitova or Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania. Sharapova defeated Caroline Wozniacki 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.
“She's improved her consistency tremendously,” Sharapova said. “She got in really good shape at the end of last year, and I think that helped her. She was able to turn many defense situations into offense.”
The third-seeded Russian, who is chasing an 11th WTA title on clay, will next play either Svetlana Kuznetsova or Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic.
Ten months after the then 144th-ranked Kyrgios overwhelmed Rafael Nadal in the Wimbledon fourth round with a fearless brand of tennis, the Australian showed that he is a force to be reckoned with on clay too.
Now ranked 35th on the back of contesting his first ever ATP final in Estoril last weekend, Kyrgios brought an abrupt end to Federer's hopes of winning a fourth Madrid trophy with a heart-pumping 6-7(2), 7-6(5), 7-6(12) victory.
Kei Nishikori also progressed with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 victory over Belgian David Goffin.
Andy Murray made the third round with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-0 win over Philipp Kohlschreiber in a match which ended at 3 o'clock Thursday morning.
Spain's Marcel Granollers defeated French 13th seed Gael Monfils, 7-6 (86), 6-7 (7/9), 6-4. — Agencies
