Nadal waltzes into Mexican Open semis

Former World No 1 Rafael Nadal breezed through to the semi-finals of the Mexican Open on Thursday, dispatching Argentine Leonardo Mayer in straight sets 6-1, 7-5.

The second-seeded Nadal will face fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro on Friday.

Nadal, an 11-time Grand Slam champion, is in the midst of a three tournament comeback after a knee injury forced him to take a seven-month hiatus from the tour.

Earlier this month Nadal made the final of the VTR Open in Chile, and followed that up by claiming the Brazil Open title.

Isner, Haas through but Querrey stumbles at Delray Beach

Top seed John Isner marched into the quarter-finals of the Delray Beach International with a 7-6, 6-2 win over Japan's Go Soeda on Thursday.

Isner fired 15 aces and won over 90 percent of points on his first serve to take the match in an hour and 15 minutes.

He will meet another big-serving giant in South African defending champion Kevin Anderson, who was pushed harder by Taiwan's Yen-Hsun Lu in their 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 match.

Second-seeded German Tommy Haas had little trouble in beating Uzbek Denis Istomin 6-4, 6-1 but third seed Sam Querrey was sent packing by Latvian Ernests Gulbis 6-4, 4-6, 7-6.

Haas, the 2006 champion, was also strong on serve and wrapped up the match in just 67 minutes.

American Querrey crashed out after taking a 4-0 lead in the deciding set, and racked up eight double-faults, including one when serving for the match.

Eighth seed Xavier Malisse of Belgium was also bundled out, losing his rain-interrupted match 7-6, 3-6, 6-3 to Spanish qualifier Daniel Munoz.