After staggering through a difficult first week at the US Open Rafael Nadal produced his best performance of the tournament to surge into the quarter-finals.

The world number one brushed aside world number 64 Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-2 6-4 6-1 in just an hour and 42 minutes on the Arthur Ashe Stadium.

It was an emphatic display from the fiery Spaniard, who needed 14 breakpoints to finally break Argentine Leonardo Mayer in the previous round.

Against Dolgopolov, though, Nadal converted his first opportunity and didn’t relinquish his own serve throughout the contest.

Nadal made just 11 unforced errors compared to 39 from his opponent, who struggled to break down the Spaniard’s impeccable defence

Next up for Nadal is Russian teenager Andrey Rublev in the last eight.

Nadal dominates from the off

There was a touch of generosity in the first break of the match, as Dolgopolov threw a double fault and a couple of unforced errors into his second service game.

The Ukrainian is a streaky player, who can pose a real threat when his confidence is high.

However, in the opening set, Dolgopolov’s groundstrokes regularly misfired and Nadal efficiently picked up the pieces.

After spending over three hours on court against Mayer, Nadal will have been thankful for a one-sided first set which lasted a paltry 31 minutes.

Dolgopolov did improve in the second, and began to apply some scoreboard pressure on the Spaniard after saving a breakpoint in the opening game.

Serve working well for the world number one

Yet, Nadal’s service games remained infrangle, with the Spaniard regularly using the crafty body-serve to jam his opponent.

From the back of the court, Nadal’s ominous forehand began to fire while his flat and zippy backhand also inflicted damage.

At 4-4 in the second, the Dolgopolov’s serve was breached again when he carelessly clattered another backhand into the net.

Nadal didn’t face a break point throughout the second set, which he sealed with an ace after just over an hour of play.

The third set was even more convincing than the first, as Nadal cruised through to the last eight.