Saturday 4 October 2014 08:52, UK
Rafael Nadal showed glimpses of his vintage best as he moved into the quarter-finals of the China Open with a straight-sets victory over Germany's Peter Gojowczyk.
The world No 2, a runner-up in Beijing last year and a winner of the 2005 event, fired down six aces in a straightforward 6-3 6-4 victory wrapped up in one hour and 44 minutes.
Nadal made a dominant return after a two-month injury layoff on Tuesday by dispatching Richard Gasquet, and although the 14-time major winner was made to work a little harder by the world No 122, he never looked in any serious trouble.
After the match the French Open champion blasted the choice of tennis balls at the tournament.
"The ball is so bad here," he said. "If you throw the ball on the floor, the bounce goes everywhere. Is not a question of winning or losing. I won in Rio (earlier this year) with this ball. I won tournaments with this ball.
"It's just that we're competing at the top level of our sport, tennis, and the ball is an important thing.
"This week we are playing with one ball. Next week we are playing with a different ball," he said. "That's dangerous for the shoulder, dangerous for the elbow."
The Spaniard will now play Martin Klizan for a place in the semi-finals after his opponent Ernests Gulbis retired midway through the second set trailing 6-2 3-0 with a shoulder injury.
Meanwhile, French Open semi-finalist Grigor Dimitrov set up a quarter-final showdown with defending champion and world No 1 Novak Djokovic by seeing off Spaniard Pablo Andujar 6-4 6-4.
Watch live coverage of the ATP China Open quarter-finals on Friday morning from 6am on Sky Sports 3 HD.
