World number one Novak Djokovic racked up his 30th win of a dominant season with a 6-2, 6-1 destruction of Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut to reach the Madrid Masters quarter-finals on Thursday.
The resurgent Rafael Nadal and defending champion Andy Murray also remained on course for a semi-final clash as they eased past Sam Querrey and Gilles Simon respectively in straight sets.
Djokovic is playing in Madrid for the first time in three years but hasn’t taken long to adjust to the different conditions in the altitude of the Spanish capital as he has reached the quarters for the loss of just nine games.
Nadal, on the other hand, stretched his perfect start to the European clay-court season to 12 matches as he fought back from going down an early break to beat Querrey 6-4, 6-2.
The 14-time Grand Slam champion is in fine form after victories in Monte Carlo and Barcelona and is seeking to break Guillermo Vilas’ record with a 50th clay-court title on Sunday’s final.
Nadal started slowly as Querrey stormed into a 3-0 lead and had a break point to lead 5-2. However, Nadal turned the match around by winning six straight games to seal the first set and break early in the second.
Lastly, Murray extended his impressive record over Simon to 14-2 with a 6-4, 6-2 win over 16th seed. The two-time Grand Slam champion will face Tomas Berdych in the last eight after the Czech got the better of David Ferrer 7-6 (10/8) 7-5.
(With inputs from PTI.)
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