Nadal, Murray continue progress in Madrid Masters

Rafael Nadal eased his way into the quarter-finals of the Madrid Masters Tennis tournament with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Italian Simone Bolelli on Thursday, a media report said on Friday.

Nadal had few problems in a game which lasted less than an hour and a quarter, slightly more than Andy Murray, who blew away Marc Granollers 6-2, 6-0 in one hour and four minutes, Xinhua reported.

Murray was in surprisingly good form considering that his previous match had not finished until 3am in the morning due to the sometimes erratic scheduling in Madrid.

Number seven seed, David Ferrer defeated fellow Spaniard, Fernando Verdasco 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, while Wednesday's hero Nick Kyrgios, who knocked number one seed, Roger Federer out of the tournament himself fell victim to John Isner 3-6, 7-6 (7) 6-4 in a game he could have won in the second set.

Japan's Nishikori also continued his quiet progress through the competition with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Spanish number 14 seed Roberto Bautista Gut.

Big-serving number six seed Tomas Berdych saw off number 12 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga with relative ease, 7-5, 6-2 to reach the quarter-finals, while Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov produced a minor surprise beating 2013 Madrid finalist Stanislaus Wawrinka 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-3 in just under two hours.

In the women's competition, top seed Serena Williams suffered none of the problems she suffered on Wednesday as she breezed into the semi-finals of the Mutua Madrid Tennis Open with a comfortable 6-1, 6-3 win over Spain's Carla Suarez to maintain her 2015 unbeaten record.

Reigning Champion Maria Sharapova worked harder to reach the semi-finals before beating number 5 seed Caroline Wozniachi 6-1, 3- 6, 6-3 in a match where she showed greater aggression than her Danish rival.

Fourth seed Petra Kvitova is also into the last four after her 7-5, 6-3 victory over Rumanian, Irania Camelia Begu, while Svetlana Kuznetsova is the fourth semi-finalist following her surprise win over Lucie Safarova.