French Open 2015: Kei Nishikori beats the rain to match 82-year feat

CNN  — 

Kei Nishikori got the job done quickly at rain-hit French Open Sunday to become the first Japanese man to reach the quarterfinals at the clay court grand slam in 82 years.

The 25-year-old Nishikori reeled off 40 winners to beat Russian Teymuraz Gabashvili 6-3 6-4 6-2 in a shade under two hours.

Fifth seed Nishikori has yet to drop a set in his four matches at Roland Garros to match Jiro Satoh, who went on to reach the semifinals in both 1931 and 1933.

Standing in Nishikori’s path to the last four is home hope Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who later beat an injury-hampered Tomas Berdych in four sets.

“I hope it’s just the start of my journey, and I hope I can keep going,” Nishikori told the official ATP Tour website.

Read: Djokovic and Nadal head for showdown

“It always means a lot to make history. Especially for Japanese, Asian [players] the clay is not the best surface for us. Now I’m trying to make the new step. I hope I can keep going like this on clay courts.”

14th seed Tsonga, one of five Frenchmen to make the last 16, served for the match in the third set, but was broken before Berdych battled back to win the tiebreaker.

Berdych also gained an early break in the fourth set, but Tsonga took control again to delight the home fans.

The other man who made it into the last eight Sunday was Swiss eighth seed Stan Wawrinka, ending the challenge of French 12th seed Gilles Simon, 6-1 6-4 6-2.

Wawrinka made the last eight in 2013 where he lost to Rafael Nadal, his compatriot Roger Federer or French ace Gael Monfils await this time.

Federer and Monfils were locked at one set all when play was halted in gathering gloom and will finish their match Monday.

Second seed Federer looked in a hurry as he broke the steadfast Monfils to take the opener in 29 minutes, but he was unable to carry forward that momentum to the second set.

Monfils, who has beaten Federer in their last two encounters on clay, at the Davis Cup final last November and Monte Carlo earlier this year, broke early for a 4-1 lead.

Federer broke back with superb tennis, but at 4-5 and serving to stay in the set he fell victim to some inspired winners by Monfils, who duly leveled at the first opportunity.

The match referee then called both men to the net and they all agreed that the light was too poor to continue.

Frustration for champion

The other star kept waiting by the weather is defending women’s champion Maria Sharapova, who did not get on court for her last 16 clash with Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic.

But two women did make the quarterfinals, with former champion Ana Ivanovic leading the way after a three-set victory 7-5 3-6 6-1 against Ekaterina Makarova of Russia.

19th seed Elina Svitolina became the first Ukrainian woman to reach the last eight in Roland Garros by easing past Alize Cornet of France, 6-2 7-6.

The pair will meet for a place in the semifinals.

Sunday’s other fourth round clash between veteran Italian Flavia Pennetta and promising young Spaniard Garbine Muguruza, the 21st seed, was also shelved.