Nadal marches into last eight

Rafael Nadal
12 April 2012

Top seed Rafael Nadal booked his place in the US Open quarter-finals with a business-like victory over fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez at Flushing Meadows.

Nadal broke Lopez, ranked 23rd for the tournament, once in each of the three sets to record a 6-3 6-4 6-4 victory that showed him at his most professional rather than dominant.

The world number one will meet Fernando Verdasco in the last eight after he came back from two sets down in another all-Spanish match-up against David Ferrer.

Ferrer, seeded 10th, was the unlucky loser as he went down 7-5 7-6 (10/8) 3-6 3-6 6-7 (4/7).

Eighth seed Verdasco looked down and out after two hard-fought defeats in as many sets but grew as the game went on and played some thrilling shots in a decisive fifth-set tie-break.

Elsewhere, Stanislas Wawrinka followed up his win over Andy Murray by prevailing in a five-set epic against Sam Querrey to reach the last eight of a grand slam for the first time.

The Swiss 25th seed triumphed 7-6 (11-9) 6-7 (5-7) 7-5 4-6 6-4 in a match lasting just shy of four and a half hours to seal a quarter-final tie with Mikhail Youzhny, who saw off the challenge of Tommy Robredo earlier in the day.

Wawrinka said: "It's the first time for me, so for sure I am very happy with that. It's something very important, and I knew before the match it was going to be tough, but I was really focused on the match, on staying with him."

Twelfth seed Youzhny had earlier secured a 7-5 6-2 4-6 6-4 win over Spain's Robredo.

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