Rafa Nadal continued his birthday celebrations by moving into the French Open quarter-finals on Monday, beating a determined Maximilian Marterer 6-3 6-2 7-6(4).
Nadal, who turned 32 on Sunday, fired 39 winners as he completed the victory in two hours and 30 minutes.
He thereby sets up a match with Argentine Diego Schwartzman, who had earlier beaten Kevin Anderson.
After roaring to a two-set lead, Nadal faced a stern test in the third with Marterer leading 3-1 at one point after breaking the Spaniard.
The German battled for every point in a bid to drag himself back into the contest.
Nadal, however, maintained composure in the decisive moments of the match to seal victory on his second match point as Marterer’s backhand went long.
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