World number one Rafael Nadal continued his rich vein of form as he swept aside Fabio Fognini of Italy in straight sets to storm into quarter-finals of the Shanghai Masters here on Thursday.
Nadal, who is still in the market for his first Shanghai Rolex Masters title, was at his dominant against Fognini as he dismantled his Italian opponent 6-3, 6-1 in a one-sided round-of-16 clash that lasted little over an hour.
With the triumph, the Spanish maestro has extended his winning streak to 14 matches and also boosted his chances of finishing year-end No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings for a fourth time.
It should be recalled that the Fognini had caused Nadal plenty of problems in the past, winning three of their 12 encounters - most famously fighting back from two sets down to knock the 31-year-old out of the 2015 US Open
Nadal will now lock horns with sixth seed Grigor Dimitrov for a place in the semi-finals of the men's singles event.