Nadal books place in last eight

Defending champion Rafael Nadal battled through to the quarter-finals of the French Open with a 7-5 6-3 6-3 victory over Ivan Ljubicic.

It was far from a vintage performance from the top seed, who will face either Robin Soderling or Gilles Simon in the last eight, particularly for a set and a half, but he was still too good for veteran Ljubicic.