France, Feb. 15 -- Second seed Rafael Nadal advanced to the last eight at the Australian Open on Monday after a straight sets win over the 16th seed Fabio Fognini.

Nadal, 34, disposed of the Italian 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 to set up a meeting with the fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas. The Greek progressed after ninth seed Matteo Berrettini withdrew from their fourth round match due to a stomach injury.

"Every match, when you go on court against a great player like Fabio, you've got to worry every moment," said Nadal after clinching his 13th victory over Fognini in 17 matches.

"But at the same time you can't expect to go on court and not have problems during the match, facing these kinds of players."

Battle

Nadal claimed the first set after 46 min...