Rafael Nadal breezed into the Shanghai Masters after winning in straight sets on Thursday. He was joined by Novak Djokovic. Both players advanced to the quarterfinals on a day on which two great players retired from the tournament because of injuries.

Nadal claimed his last title in May; since then, he has been working very hard to claim another. He defeated Tommy Robredo 6-1, 6-4, and on Wednesday, managed to defeat James Blake in three sets 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-4. The victory marked the second time that Nadal needed three sets to defeat the American, whom he had faced previously at the China Open last week.

Nadal is likely trying to leave memories of the China Open behind him; the event seemed part of a long losing streak that has long been dogging the former world No. 1 player. Nadal has seemed a little lost in his play lately, unable to find his form in court. Last week, he dropped out of the China Open semifinals, losing against Marin Cilic in just 83 minutes. Cilic claimed the victory in two straight sets, 6-1, 6-3.

However, the Spaniard appears to be regaining his form in Japan, judging by his performances this week.

"Today the important moment, for example, in my opinion, the beginning of the second set was very important, because I was playing really well, 6-1, having the control of the match, playing aggressive," Nadal said of his match against Robredo. "Tommy didn't have lot of chances.  So I played two bad games in the beginning of the second and the set was difficult."

Novak Djokovic, who is advancing along with Nadal, faced Rainer Schuettler. As did Nadal, the Serb defeated his opponent in two straight sets, 6-4, 6-2. Schuettler had an opportunity to force a tiebreak in the first set at 5-4, but Djokovic was able to maintain his composure and regain control of the set. He used his forehand down when he scored his first set point and finished dominating the match.

Overall, Djokovic benefited from a solid serve; he was also able to break Schuettler’s serve four times and took the victory in 1 hour, 25 minutes.

“I didn’t play the last couple of games of the first set that well, but the important thing is that I played as much as I needed to win,” Djokovic said.

Not everyone was as fortunate as Nadal and Djokovic. Juan Martin del Potro, the winner of the US Open, retired from the Shanghai Masters after suffering from tendinitis in his right wrist. Del Potro withdrew during a match against Jurgen Melzer of Austria, 7-5, 2-1. The Argentine explained that he had suffered from the same problem earlier that year, and that although he was unhappy to leave the tournament, he needed to rest and recover in order to enjoy the rest of the season.

Fourth-seeded Andy Roddick also retired from the tournament; on Tuesday, he withdrew from his match against Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland for a knee injury.

In the quarterfinals, Nadal will face Ivan Ljubicic and Djokovic will play Gilles Simon.