Nadal handles Ram to push into Chennai quarterfinals

CHENNAI, India -- Top-seeded Spaniard Rafael Nadal brushed aside American qualifier Rajeev Ram 6-4, 6-1 to advance to the Chennai Open quarterfinals Thursday.

Nadal will next play fellow Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, who rallied to upset seventh-seeded Austrian Werner Eschauer 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-3).

Marin Cilic of Croatia, the youngest player ranked among the ATP Tour's top 100 last year, beat fifth-seeded Frenchman Nicolas Mahut 6-2, 6-4 to also advance.

Cilic's opponent in Friday's quarterfinal will be Robin Haase of the Netherlands, who defeated Croatian qualifier Lovro Zovko 6-1, 7-5.

Nadal, the world's second-ranked player, expected a difficult quarterfinal against the 90th-ranked Garcia-Lopez.

"It'll be a tough contest. Guillermo's coming through a competitive match, so he might be better prepared," he said. "Sometimes it's better to come through tough early rounds."

Garcia-Lopez lost the first set by squandering his service in the 10th game, but clinched the second set in similar fashion by breaking the 66th-ranked Eschauer in the 11th game.

The 71st-ranked Cilic had two breaks in each set against Mahut, the 45th-ranked player who managed a break at the start of the second set before Cilic bounced back to seize the advantage.

The 19-year-old Cilic, a former junior French Open champion, said his goal for 2008 was to break into the top 40.

"In 2007, I was trying to get into the top 100 the whole year and finally managed to do so. Now, I've started well in the first week," Cilic said.