Rafael Nadal has continued his effortless march through the early rounds of the Australian Open, booking a quarter final spot for the sixth consecutive year with a straight sets win over Feliciano Lopez.
Nadal, the No.2 seed, held an 8-2 record against his compatriot coming into this match, and it was easy to see why as he took just two hours and 25 minutes to book his position in the final eight, 6-4 6-4 6-2.
Nadal, who looks to be improving with every match and is yet to drop a set, faces Tomas Berdych in the quarter-final after the Czech No.7 seed accounted for Spaniard Nicolas Almagro 4-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-2).
2009 US Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro also made it through to the final eight for the first time in three years with an emphatic 6-4 6-2 6-1 win over Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber.
Lopez, the no.18 seed, was under immediate pressure on Rod Laver Arena and despite saving six break points in his first two service games, double faulted to hand Nadal the first advantage of the match.
Lopez continued to make unforced errors -23 in total - throughout the first set and while Nadal was unable to get a second break, he eased to a set advantage.
Nadal then broke in the first game of the second, and while Lopez got that back, he was again making mistakes and was under pressure, missing a forehand volley at the net to give his opponent back the momentum.
The 2009 champion was barely putting a foot wrong and with just four unforced errors in the second set and two in the third gave Lopez no hope.
The underdog was broken in the first and fifth games and exited the tournament on a match where he made 52 unforced errors and just 26 winners.
Berdych progressed to his second consecutive quarter-final appearance at Melbourne Park after overcoming Almagro in a taxing affair on Hisense Arena which lasted almost four hours.
Berdych outdid Almagro in both winners (70-54) and aces (28-16) and won 87 percent of his first-serve points compared to the Spaniard's 76 percent in the same department.
The first set provided few opportunities for either player to gain advantage with only three break points arising and just one of them being converted in the seventh game by Almagro thanks to a botched drop shot attempt by Berdych.
That gave the 10th seed a 4-3 lead and Berdych couldn't recover as he conceded the first set.
The second produced an even stronger serving display from both players with Berdych denying Almagro any break-point opportunity and the Spaniard yielding only two to the seventh seed which were both unsuccessful as the match saw the first of three tie-breakers played out.
Berdych got out to a 6-3 lead with an ace and despite Almagro saving three set points, he couldn't save a third as proceedings were levelled at a set apiece despite the Spaniard making fewer unforced errors in the second set (5-13).
Berdych then broke Almagro in the first game of a tight third set but he relinquished his advantage in the sixth game when the No.10 seed broke back to square things up at 3-3 as the pair headed for their second tie-breaker of the contest.
Berdych brought up five set points when he raced out to a 6-1 lead and, although Almagro