Nadal motors through to date with Fritz while Halep crushes Badosa

Rafael Nadal marched into his eighth Wimbledon quarter-final where he will meet Taylor Fritz, while 2019 winner Simona Halep made a ruthless return to Centre Court.

Nadal had defeated Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp on his way to the French Open title last month and he repeated the trick at the All England Club with an efficient 6-4 6-2 7-6 (8-6) victory.

Success over the Dutchman in two hours and 22 minutes saw proceedings on Centre Court end two hours before the 11pm curfew that almost left defending champion Novak Djokovic in limbo on Sunday, and ensured the Spaniard stayed on course for the calendar year Grand Slam.

It sets up a reunion with Fritz, who beat the world No 4 in the Indian Wells final in March - a match Nadal played with a stress fracture of a rib. He then needed radio-wave treatment on a nerve in his left foot last month to make it to SW19, but constant talk of his fitness is wearing down the 22-time major champion.

"I am a little bit tired to talk about my body," Nadal said. "Sometimes I am tired about myself, all the issues that I am having. I prefer to not talk about that now. Sorry for that.

"But I am in the middle of the tournament and I have to keep going. All respect for the rest of the opponents. I am just trying my best every single day. For the moment I am healthy enough to keep going and fight for the things that I want.

"It takes a lot of mental and physical effort to try to play this tournament after the things that I went through the last couple of months. But as everybody knows, Wimbledon is a tournament that I like so much.

"I have been three years without playing here. I really wanted to be back. That's what I am doing. So that's why it means a lot for me to be in the quarter-finals."