Rafael Nadal sent an ominous warning of intent as the 16-time Grand Slam winner bulldozed his way into the quarter-finals of the China Open on Thursday.
The Spanish world No 1, enjoying a late-career flourish, dispatched Russia's promising Karen Khachanov 6-3 6-3 on the outside hard court in Beijing.
Nadal, the top seed and coming off the back of a third US Open title, faces big-serving American John Isner in the last eight.
The 31-year-old Nadal broke Khachanov, ranked 42 in the world, in the fourth game and was never in serious trouble after that.
Khachanov, at age 21 a rising talent, simply had no reply to Nadal's explosive forehand and made too many routine errors.
Nadal broke the young Russian again in the third game of the second set as he cruised into the last eight.
It was a contrast to his opener in the Chinese capital, when Nadal saved two match points against Frenchman Lucas Pouille.
He advances to face an opponent he has beaten in all six of their previous meetings, although John Isner came close to a stunning French Open win over Nadal six years ago, when he led by two sets to one in their first-round battle.
Isner booked his last-eight place in China with a 6-0 6-3 victory over Argentinian Leonardo Mayer.
In the bottom quarter of the Beijing draw, German second seed Alexander Zverev saw off Italian Fabio Fognini 6-4 6-2 and will tackle Russian teenager Andrey Rublev for a semi-final place.
Rublev pulled off an impressive win over Czech Tomas Berdych, with the 19-year-old recovering from a slow start to earn a 1-6 6-4 6-1 victory.
World No 4 Karolina Pliskova tumbled out, with the Czech beaten 6-1 7-5 by Romanian Sorana Cirstea.
But third-ranked Elina Svitolina remains in the title hunt, the Ukrainian a 6-2 7-5 winner against Russian Elena Vesnina.
Next for Svitolina is an awkward-looking quarter-final against in-form French player Caroline Garcia, who won the title in Wuhan last week and is at her highest career ranking of 15th as a result.
Garcia was untroubled by her French compatriot Alize Cornet in the third round, coming through 6-2 6-1.
Latvia's French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko advanced when Chinese opponent Shuai Peng retired due to a knee injury and will face Cirstea in the last eight on Friday.