Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal into Monte Carlo quarters

Top seed Novak Djokovic and 11-time champion Rafael Nadal showed no mercy in dominating wins to power into the Monte Carlo Masters quarter-finals on Thursday. Djokovic extended his winning streak against US players with a 6-3, 6-0 defeat of Taylor Fritz. The two-time tournament champion has now won nine in a row over Americans since losing at Wimbledon in 2016 to Sam Querrey.

"It was very challenging to play in these (windy) conditions," Djokovic said. "Taylor just flattens the ball."We had five, six close games in the first set, I just managed to break his resistance midway through." After that, things went on my side and I felt more comfortable. "This was one of these days where you just have to hang in there and try to put an extra ball back in the court - that was enough." 

RELATED

Nadal repeated last year's semi-final win over Grigor Dimitrov, beating the Bulgarian for the 12th time, 6-4, 6-1."I'm very, very happy, this is an important victory for me," the second seed said after winning his 23rd consecutive set at the tournament." Grigor is a super talent and is very dangerous. It was a positive match for me."I had a good day, I can be happy with what I did on court."When you don't play on clay for almost a year, every win is important for the confidence, especially as I'm coming back from injury." 

Spain's 17-time Grand Slam champion started his clay season this week after missing a month with another knee problem and has title-holder points to defend here plus Barcelona, Rome and Roland Garros. The king of clay is bidding for a 12th trophy in the principality. His record at the event is a staggering 70-4.Nadal spent almost an hour in securing the first set but picked up the pace in the second as he ran out the winner.He next faces Guido Pella, who defeated Italy's Marco Cecchinato 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Novak and Nadal entered quarter-final after defeating their respective opponents. 
• Novak has now won nine game straight in the tournament. 
• Nadal defeated opponent with a scoreline of 6-4, 6-1.