Tomas Berdych advances in straight sets

Tomas Berdych has advanced to the last eight of the Rome Open with a straight-sets win over Nicolas Almagro.

The first set took over an hour and 15 minutes to conclude as both competitors were evenly matched right until a tie-break was reached.

Despite a tight affair, it was Berdych who managed to go the extra mile to snatch the vital set lead in Rome following a tense tie-break.

The first six games of the second set went with serve until seventh seed Berdych showed his class to secure the victory with consecutive breaks.

He asserted his dominance on the match by firstly breaking to love and then again on his next attempt to secure a 7-6[3] 6-3 victory.

The Czech will face either Rafael Nadal or Marcel Granollers in the quarter-finals.