French Open: Almagro wins Spanish battle against Verdasco

Nicolas Almagro pummelled fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco into submission at the French Open on Monday to set up a quarter-final showdown with Rafael Nadal.

The 24-year-old blasted away from the baseline with his sledgehammer forehand, advancing 6-1, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 in two hours and 12 minutes on Court Suzanne Lenglen.

Seventh seed Verdasco looked jaded in his 43rd Tour match of the season and only during the second set did he offer much resistance against a player he beat here last year.

Almagro, who has matched his run to the last eight in 2008, sealed victory on his first match point when a Verdasco forehand landed fractionally beyond the baseline.

Serbian fourth seed Jelena Jankovic eased past Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova 6-4, 6-2 to reach the quarter-finals of the French Open on Monday.

Jankovic, a semi-finalist in Paris in 2007 and 2008, was rarely troubled by the 23rd seed during her one-hour and 25-minute stroll on Centre Court.

The former world number one, looking to clinch her maiden grand slam tournament, wrapped up the win on her first match point when Hantuchova misfired a service return.

Jankovic will next face Kazakh Yaroslava Shvedova.

Kazakh Yaroslava Shvedova comfortably dismissed Australian qualifier Jarmila Groth 6-4, 6-3 to book her place in the quarter-finals of the French Open on Monday.

Shvedova needed only 68 minutes to brush aside the world number 107, who crumbled on the key moments of the match.

World number 36 Shvedova, who had never made it past the third round of a Grand Slam tournament, prevailed when Groth double-faulted on the first match point.