Nadal lost in California in March to the United States Taylor Fritz in a match where he suffered with a rib injury, and had not played on the tour since but returned in impressive style at the joint Association of Tennis Professionals Masters 1000 and Women’s Tennis Association 1000 tournament.

The third seed defeated Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic 6-1, 7-6 at the Caja Magica as men's round of 32 action continued, although he was taken to a tie-break in set two after being broken as he attempted to serve out the match at 6-5.

Defending champion Alex Zverev of Germany, the second seed, came from a set down to overcome Croatia’s Marin Cilic 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.

The biggest shock of the day in the men’s draw came when Norway’s Casper Ruud, the world number 77 and fifth seed, lost 7-6, 2-6, 6-4 to Serbian wildcard Dusan Lajovic.

Elsewhere fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece defeated French wildcard Lucas Pouille 6-3, 6-4, eighth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada brushed past Cristian Garin of Chile 6-3, 6-0 and ninth seed Cameron Norrie of Britain battled past American John Isner 6-4, 6-7, 6-4.

In the women’s quarter-finals eighth seed Ons Jabeur of Tunisia defeated Romania’s Simona Halep 6-3, 6-2.

The other seeded player in the last eight Jessica Pegula of the United States, the 12^th seed, defeated Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain 6-4, 6-2.

Switzerland’s Jil Teichmann ended the fairytale run of world number 37 Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina, who had beaten three Grand Slam champions on route to the last eight, winning 6-3, 6-4.

Russian qualifier Ekaterina Alexandrova, playing as a neutral, beat American Amanda Anisimova 6-4, 6-3, to complete the semi-final line-up.