Rafael Nadal progressed to the quarter-final stage of this year’s Madrid Open with a routine win over world No 76 Alexei Popyrin in straight sets on Thursday afternoon. The 34-year-old claimed a 6-3 6-2 win at the expense of his relatively inexperienced opponent, who did not embarrass himself by any means but was no match for the decorated Spaniard.
Nadal saw off his teenage compatriot Carlos Alcaraz on Wednesday with a dominant performance, and produced another excellent showing against Popyrin to maintain his hopes of a sixth Madrid Open title.
He won four break points on his way to victory and appears to be nearing top form ahead of the French Open, which will get underway in Paris at the end of the month.
Meanwhile, Popyrin made 20 unforced errors over the course of the match, with the 21-year-old in need of improvement if he is to be challenging for silverware any time soon.
Nadal was not at his very best on Thursday, but faced no issues in laying down a tactical masterclass in order to put himself within three matches of another trophy on clay.
He will face Alexander Zverev or Dan Evans, who stunned world No 1 Novak Djokovic at last month’s Monte-Carlo Masters, for a place in the semi-finals.
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