Spanish tennis maestro Rafael Nadal continued his perfect start to the clay-court season as he sweept aside Albert Montanes in straight sets to progress through to the quarter-finals of the Barcelona Open on Thursday.
After a rain-delayed start to third-round contest, the 29-year-old eased past his Spaniard opponent 6-2, 6-2 in just an hour and five minutes,Sport24 reported.
With the win, top-seed Nadal has now set up a clash against 12th seed Fabio Fognini of Italy who defeated Serbia's Viktor Troicki 6-3 6-2.
The 14-time Grand Slam champion, who recently ended his two-year title drought at Monte Carlo, is aiming to equal Guillermo Vilas's record of 49 clay-court titles at Barcelona.
Nadal had earlier also equalized the record of 28th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crown and brought himself back alongside top-ranked Novak Djokovic after winning Monte Carlo Masters.
