Madrid Open: Nadal looks to seal last-eight spot

World number one Rafael Nadal will continue his quest for sixth Madrid Open title when he squares off with Argentinean tennis star Diego Schwartzman in the last-16 clash of the men's singles event here on Thursday.

Having received a bye in the opening round of the tournament, the Spaniard tennis maestro had yesterday kick-started his campaign in Madrid Arena with a comfortable 6-3, 6-1 win over French player Gael Monfils in a one-sided second-round clash that lasted one hour and 13 minutes.

He will now take on Argentine No. 13 seed Schwartzman, who defeated fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 7-5, 2-6, 6-2, in the third round to book his place in the quarter-finals.

Nadal, who recorded his 20th straight clay-court match win besides also improving his consecutive sets won on clay streak to 48, is bidding to snap John McEnroe's 49-set winning streak on the carpet in 1984.

In another men's singles clash, Canadian tennis star Milos Raonic will take on Israel's Denis Shapovalov for a last-eight berth, while fifth-seed Dominic Thiem of Austria will lock horns with Croatia's Borna Coric.

Earlier, former world number one Novak Djokovic crashed out of the tournament after going down against British player Kyle Edmund in the second round.

Djokovic, who kicked off his campaign with straight sets win over Japan's Kei Nishikori, failed to bounce back from a set down and slumped to a 3-6, 6-2, 3-6 defeat against Edmund.