Kei Nishikori stays in the hunt in Barcelona with Jeremy Chardy win

Kei Nishikori has remained on course for a third successive Barcelona Open title after beating Jeremy Chardy in straight sets to reach the quarter-finals this afternoon.

The 26-year-old, whose last defeat here came in 2013, broke his French counterpart in the sixth game to move 4-2 ahead, en route to taking the first set 6-3.

The Japanese world number five broke again in the third game of the second set to move 2-1 up as another routine victory looked on the cards.

However, Chardy broke straight back to level up at two games apiece, but he was unable to build on the break as Nishikori repaid the favour almost instantly to lead 3-2.

Two more breaks of serve for each player saw Nishikori then lead 6-5, before holding his service game at the right moment to win 7-5 and reach the last eight.

He faces Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine in the next phase.