Nadal, Ferrer take care of business in Madrid

Rafael Nadal rolls over Jakko Nieminen in straight sets on Thursday in Madrid. Nadal, who will face Tomas Berdych in the quarterfinals, is also joined in the last eight by David Ferrer. Ferrer advanced past John Isner.

Rafael Nadal reached the quarterfinals of the Mutua Madrid Open after beating Jarkko Nieminen 6-1, 6-4 during third-round action on Thursday afternoon. Nadal let a 3-0 lead slip in the second set, but he still got the job done in just one hour and 19 minutes.

“During the first hour I played better than yesterday, more dynamically and with more intensity,” said the top-ranked Spaniard. “I knew what I was doing with every ball with no surprises. I was defending properly and knowing what was happening in every single moment. Perhaps that’s something I wasn’t able to do in recent weeks.”

Next up for Nadal is Tomas Berdych, against whom the No. 1 seed is 17-3 lifetime and has won 16 matches in a row. Berdych battled back from a deficit to beat Grigor Dimitrov 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 on Thursday.

Berdych gets interviewed after his win, but apparently he’s not sure by whom:

Andy Murray and Milos Raonic were the only players ranked highest in their respective third-round matches who lost on Thursday, although Raonic was without question an underdog against a red-hot Kei Nishikori. Raonic went down 7-6(5), 7-6(5), while Murray exited via a 6-3, 6-2 loss to an in-form Santiago Giraldo.

Murray interview:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwIYQzZVpuM]

Meanwhile, Dominic Thiem’s run came to a disappointing end before he even got started. The 20-year-old Austrian qualified for the main draw and upset Stanislas Wawrinka on Tuesday, but he withdrew due to illness prior to facing Feliciano Lopez.

“I am extremely sorry I was not able to play today,” Thiem posted on Facebook. “We guess maybe I ate something wrong, but we do not exactly know right now. I felt sick all day and it became worse and worse instead of better. I saw the doctor and we tried everything. But it is simply impossible.”

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