US Open: Nadal, Pliskova breeze into quarters

Rafael Nadal won his 50th match at the US Open. The World No 1 beat Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-2, 6-4, 6-1 to reach quarter-finals of the US Open on Monday.

Pliskova breezes past Brady to advance to quarters

World number one Karolina Pliskova needed just 46 minutes to defeat American Jennifer Brady 6-1, 6-0 at Arthur Ashe Stadium and punch her ticket to the quarter-finals.

After facing a match point during her third-round battle against Zhang Shuai on Saturday, Pliskova was never pushed by Brady, who failed to find her groove on a sunny day that cast a severe shadow across center court.

Brady struggled mightily with her service game, where she was only able to connect on 39 percent of her first serves compared to Pliskova's 67 per cent.

Brady also struggled to read Pliskova's powerful serve and failed to convert either of her two break point chances.

"I think she was a little bit nervous," Pliskova said of the 22-year-old Brady during an on-court interview following the match.

"It was her first time on Ashe so I tried to take advantage of that."

Next up for Pliskova is either 20th-seeded American CoCo Vandeweghe or fellow Czech Lucie Safarova, who play later on Monday.