Rafael Nadal impresses to secure meeting with Milos Raonic

ByEurosport

Updated 05/01/2017 at 14:21 GMT

Rafael Nadal will face world number three Milos Raonic in the Brisbane International last eight after sweeping past world number 51 Mischa Zverev 6-1 6-1 in the last 16.

“He’s one of the toughest opponents on tour today, without a doubt," said fifth seed Nadal after losing only 12 points in each set at Pat Rafter Arena on Thursday.

"He's (Raonic) the World No. 3. His serve is huge, and he improved a lot from the baseline, too. It's a match that you cannot do too many mistakes if you want to really have any chance.

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"You need to be really focused with your serve and then try to play aggressively on the return. I am going to try to make it happen, knowing that it's going to be an extremely difficult match.”

Nadal shows class to reach Brisbane last eight

On his win over Zverev, Nadal said: ”I played a great match. It’s difficult to say something negative, because in general I saw after, on the video screen, like, 30 winners and just a few unforced errors.

"I was returning very well, I think. A lot of great passing shots. The only thing, I am not sure about was my percentage of serves. I think that was not that good tonight.”

Top seed Milos Raonic was a 6-3 6-2 winner over Diego Schwartzman of Argentina.

The Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the season, begins on Monday January 16.

Results from the Brisbane International Men's Singles Round 2 matches on Thursday

5-Rafa Nadal (Spain) beat Mischa Zverev (Germany) 6-1 6-1

1-Milos Raonic (Canada) beat Diego Schwartzman (Argentina) 6-3 6-2

4-Dominic Thiem (Austria) beat Samuel Groth (Australia) 7-6(5) 6-3

7-Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria) beat Nicolas Mahut (France) 6-2 6-4

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