Nadal safely into Hamburg quarter-finals

HAMBURG: Rafael Nadal eased into the Hamburg Open quarter-finals Thursday with a 6-4, 7-6 (7/2) win over Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic as the Spaniard continues to try and resuscitate his flagging season.

The top-seeded Mallorcan, playing the summer clay-court tournament for the first time in seven years, goes on to face fifth-seeded Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas, who battled past Jerzy Janowicz of Poland 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.

Nadal, the 2008 champion in Hamburg, extended his clay record in 2015 to 23-6 as he looks to add to his 46 clay-court titles.

Nadal has endured a tough year, losing his French Open title, getting knocked out in the second round at Wimbledon and seeing his ranking slump to 10, his lowest in a decade.