Rafael Nadal has booked his place in the quarter-finals of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells courtesy of a straight-sets victory over Gilles Simon.
The Spaniard came through 6-2 6-4 after one hour and 19 minutes of play.
Nadal started the match strongly, breaking Simon in the first game and again in the fifth to race into a 5-1 lead.
Simon battled hard to save two set points on his own serve in the sixth game, which he won, before Nadal claimed the opening set by serving out to love.
The world number three made a sluggish start to the second set, though, losing his first service game to allow Simon to move 2-0 ahead. However, the Frenchman could not hold on to his advantage for long, as Nadal responded with two breaks of his own to level matters.
Nadal broke the Simon serve once more to go 5-2 up and, despite Simon fighting back briefly to make it 5-4, Nadal wrapped up the match on his own serve to progress to the last eight.
Steven Toplis
