Rafael Nadal broke John McEnroe‘s record for consecutive set wins on a single surface as he moved into the quarter-finals of the Madrid Open.
Nadal beat Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman 6-3 6-4 on the clay to take his winning set streak to 50 and eclipse McEnroe’s total which the American achieved on carpet in 1984.
Nadal, who is looking for a sixth career Madrid Open title, broke Schwartzman in the sixth game of each set and appeared to be on course for a comfortable win.
World number 16 Schwartzman served up a minor scare by breaking back for 4-4 in the second set, but Nadal responded immediately and closed out for a history-making win.
Nadal will next face the man he beat he beat in last year’s final, Dominic Thiem, after the fifth seed came from a set and a break down to edge out Croatian Borna Coric 2-6 7-6 (5) 6-4.
Coric served for the match at 5-4 in the second set and also had three break point chances in the eighth game of the decider before Thiem held his nerve to claim victory.
Nadal will face Dominic Thiem in the quarter-finals.
Previously In-form fourth seed Juan Martin Del Potro suffered a shock 3-6 6-4 7-6 (6) defeat to Dusan Lajovic, handing the Serbian the first win over a top 10 player of his career.
Lajovic will next face South Africa’s Kevin Anderson, who reached his first Madrid quarter-final with a 6-3 7-6 (7) triumph over Kevin Anderson of Germany.
Britain’s Kyle Edmund built on his second round win over Novak Djokovic by seeing off Belgian eighth seed David Goffin 6-3 6-3, and will next face Denis Shapovalov, who beat Canadian compatriot Milos Raonic 6-4 6-4.
The final quarter-final will be between second seed Alexander Zverev – a 6-4 6-2 winner – over Leonardo Mayer, and John Isner, who edged Pablo Cuevas 6-7 (9) 7-6 (3) 7-6 (4).