Rafael Nadal is into the last 16 of the Madrid Open after a hard-fought victory over Argentina's Pedro Cachin.

The Spaniard, 37, came through 6-1 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 after three hours and six minutes on court.

Five-time champion Nadal is playing on the Madrid clay for the final time, in what he expects to be the last season of his career.

Nadal will play 30th seed Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic on Tuesday for a place in the quarter-finals.

But Great Britain's Cameron Norrie is out after losing to fifth seed Casper Ruud in straight sets.

The Norwegian, who won in Barcelona last week, triumphed 6-2 6-4 and will face Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime in the next round.

After being broken in his first service game of the match and going on to lose the first set, Norrie went a break up early in the second.

However, Ruud hit back to make it 3-3 and then broke to love to clinch the victory.

Italian top seed Jannik Sinner remains on course for his fourth title of 2024 after he saw off Russia's Pavel Kotov 6-2 7-5.

There were five consecutive breaks of serve in the first set before Sinner eventually held to go 5-2 up.

Another break secured the set but the Australian Open champion, who has only lost twice this year, was under pressure in the second.

Kotov had the chance to force a deciding set as he served at 5-4 up in the second but Sinner broke him twice in a row to advance.

Third seed Daniil Medvedev also progressed after coming from a set down to beat America's Sebastian Korda 5-7 7-6 (7-4) 6-3.

Source: BBC

BDST: 1003 HRS, APR 30, 2024
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