体坛英语新闻：Nadal ousts Stepanek into Queen's Club quarters

LONDON, June 9 (Xinhua) -- World No. 1 Rafael Nadal fought three sets to down Czech Radek Stepanek 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, reaching the quarterfinals at Queen's Club on Thursday.

The French Open champion admits he could do with some time off as he is still drained by his heroics in Paris and the strain showed a little during this inconsistent display.

"He made it tough and I'm a bit tired. But the crowd are fantastic and it's a pleasure to be here," Nadal said.

"I am motivated to keep playing well. Wimbledon is there, but I 'm focused on Queen's for now. I will have to play well against ( Jo-Wilfried) Tsonga to win."

He looked comfortable enough in the first set on Thursday and got the only break in the fifth game as a powerful backhand pass left Stepanek rooted to the spot.

The second set seemed to be following a similar pattern when Nadal broke for a 3-1 lead.

This time Stepanek, aided by some sloppy play from Nadal, broke back as the Spaniard served for the match.

Encouraged by that escape, Stepanek took advantage of a series of Nadal double faults to break again and then serve out the set.

In the final set, the Spaniard finally found some momentum, breaking twice in succession to set up a last eight clash against French fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

World number four Andy Murray ignored the pain of his ankle injury to reach the last eight with a 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) win over Serbian 14th seed Janko Tipsarevic.

Murray has conceded that the recovery time for the ligament and tendon damage he sustained at the French Open means he should really be resting this week, but a desire to get plenty of time on grass before Wimbledon has forced him to ignore his discomfort.

Andy Roddick remained in the hunt for a record fifth Queen's crown with a 6-4, 6-4 win over South Africa's Kevin Anderson.

The American third seed, a three-time Wimbledon finalist, thrives on grass and he did just enough to see off 15th seed Anderson and seal a last eight clash against Fernando Verdasco, who defeated David Nalbandian 7-5, 6-1.

France's Adrian Mannarino, ranked 54th, enjoyed a remarkable success as he reached the last eight on his Queen's debut as the 22-year-old defeated former US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (9/7).