FRENCH OPEN ROUND UP - Birthday boy Nadal reaches last eight at Roland Garros, Hilarious scenes as Youzhny smashes racket on his forehead.

Rafa Nadal celebrated his 27th birthday in style earning his second straight sets victory in succession as his challenge for an eighth French Open title gathered pace with a 6-4 6-1 6-2 defeat of Japan's Kei Nishikori to secure a quarter-final spot.

The seven-time champion has famously only once lost once at Roland Garros, to Robin Soderling in 2009, but he looked unusually vulnerable in his first three rounds.

Daniel Brands and Martin Klizan both won the first set against Nadal while, although he played better against Fabio Fognini on Saturday, he was still well below his best and fortunate to win in straight sets.



The Spaniard often gets better as the rounds go on but rarely does he struggle on clay as much as he did in the first week.

It was a surprise because he has enjoyed his best start to a season despite coming back from seven months on the sidelines with knee problems, winning six tournaments and reaching the final in his other two.



Nadal certainly looked more like his old self in a 6-4 6-1 6-3 victory over 13th seed Nishikori, striking his forehand with a lot more ferocity and moving better around the court.



The first set was relatively even, but Nadal took his chance in the fifth game while Nishikori was not able to take his.

After the Japanese player held at the start of the second set, Nadal won seven straight games, and a single break in the fourth game of the third set was enough for the third seed to come through in two hours and two minutes.





After the match, Nadal was presented with a huge layered cake decorated with tennis rackets and balls on the court as he celebrated his birthday at Roland Garros for the eighth time.



"To celebrate my birthday here on centre court in Paris is a very special moment for me," Nadal said courtside before a huge birthday cake was wheeled on to court.

"Today I played a bit better than in the previous days."

Many happy returns

Rafael Nadal's birthday cake has become a tradition at Roland Garros. Above are each of his birthday treats from 2012 all the way back to 2006. The only year missing is 2009, when the Spaniard was beaten by Robin Soderling and so did not make it into the second week of the French Open. It remains Nadal's only ever defeat at Roland Garros.



Nadal will face Stanislas Wawrinka in the last eight after local favourite Richard Gasquet was a gallant loser yet again, bowing out 6-7(5) 4-6 6-4 7-5 8-6.



World number one Novak Djokovic overcame the loss of his first set of the tournament to advance to the French Open quarter-finals with a 4-6 6-3 6-4 6-4 victory over 16th seed Philipp Kohlschreiber.

The Serb will now play German 12th seed Tommy Haas - who thrashed Russian Mikhail Youzhny 6-1 6-1 6-3 - for a place in the semi-finals as he bids to land the trophy at Roland Garros for the first time.





Haas who caused his Russian opponent to smash his racket on his forehead will be hoping for an upset against the world number 1 also. The 35 yr old was ranked second in the world in 2002, first played at Roland Garros 15 years ago but had never previously made the last eight.

Haas is also the oldest man to make the singles quarter-finals at Roland Garros since 1971, and he said: 'These are cool stats sometimes to hear and to know about. It makes you proud.



'At the time when I was playing some of my best tennis maybe at the end of '01 and the year of '02, I was at my peak, looking ahead a few years, maybe what I can achieve or what goals you have.



'Now it's more like I'm happy to be still a part of it, happy to be in these situations, happy to be on the big stages still and happy to be playing the best players in the world. And maybe occasionally having a chance to win.'