Kei Nishikori coasts into first Roland Garros quarter-final

Kei Nishikori is into the French Open quarter-finals for the first time after brushing aside Teymuraz Gabashvili on Court Philippe-Chatrier.

The Russian was the lowest-ranked player left in the men's draw and struggled to test fifth seed Nishikori, who eased to a straight-sets victory.

The Japanese came through 6-3 6-4 6-2 following less than two hours on court on Sunday.

The world number five was afforded extra recuperation time when third-round opponent Benjamin Becker withdrew due to a shoulder injury.

It was little surprise, then, that Nishikori - who made it to the Australian Open quarter-finalist for the second time earlier this year - seemed fresh as he made all the early running.

He broke early to wrap up the first set in just 34 minutes.

Gabashvili - rated 74th in the world and seeking to become the lowest-ranked Paris quarter-finalist since Ernests Gulbis qualified 80th in 2008 - threatened for a brief spell as he strung three games together at 5-1 down in the second.

However, Nishikori recovered and although he was not at his best, he breezed through the final set with 15 winners, moving to 13-2 on clay in 2015 in the process.