Nadal
Spain's Rafael Nadal plays a shot during his tennis match against Argentina's Juan Monaco at the ATP Argentina Open in Buenos Aires. Reuters/Marcos Brindicci

Rafael Nadal moves closer to winning his first tournament in 2016 as the Spaniard sets up a quarterfinal round match against Italy’s Paolo Lorenzi at the Argentina Open in Buenos Aires.

Nadal had to shrug off rustiness to dismantle Argentina’s Juan Monaco 6-4 6-4 in the second round of the tournament and get back to his winning ways. It was a crucial victory for Nadal, who begins to feel his rhythm back after a stunning first round exit at the Australian Open last month.

“I’m happy for the victory,” Nadal said, reports the ATP’s official website. “The start was tough, as Juan is a good player and the big humidity here in Argentina made it difficult. I am happy to be through and hope to be ready for tomorrow.”

Nadal’s next challenge will be against Lorenzi, who needed three sets to defeated Argentine Diego Schwartzman 4-6 6-3 6-1. The Mallorcan leads Lorenzi by one win to none in their FedEx ATP Head2Head matchup, having been beaten the world No. 52 Italian once at the ATP Masters 1000 Rome in 2011. But the “King of Clay” is well aware of what awaits him when he meets Lorenzi on the hard court.

“Paolo is a strong player and he had a great victory today,” Nadal added. “We’ll have an early afternoon start so it’ll be very warm. It’ll be a tough one.”

If Nadal gets past Lorenzi, he could setup a semifinal clash against either Serb Dusan Lajovic or Austrian Dominic Thiem. Lajovic defeated fourth seed John Isner 7-6(10) 4-6 7-6(6), while Thiem fended off qualifier Gastao Elias to win 3-6 7-6(7) 6-3.

Meanwhile, David Ferrer, three-time Argentina Open champ, will face Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas in the quarterfinal stage of the tournament after cruising past wild card qualifier Renzo Olivo 6-2 6-2. The world No. 6 could face the winner between French Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Nicolas Almagro.

Live streaming info and score updates

Watch the Argentina Open 2016 live via ATP’s official website or TennisTV. Live scores for matches will be available on game days via ATP's official website.

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