Nadal needs to win an 11th Monte Carlo title to stay clear of Roger Federer at the top of the world rankings, and the 16-time Grand Slam champion made short work of Khachanov.

Khachanov held his own at times in the opening set, but Nadal moved through the gears and claimed his second comfortable victory of the week after his opening win over Aljaz Bedene.

“A good victory. Straight sets against a difficult opponent. That’s the real thing,” said Nadal.

Thiem should provide a sterner test in the last eight, after the fifth seed came from a set down to beat Djokovic.

Nadal has lost twice to Thiem on clay, but produced a dominant display in the French Open semi-finals last year en route to his 10th Roland Garros title.

“It’s going to be a difficult match,” the 31-year-old Nadal added.

“(He) is a player that plays so good in every surface, but especially on clay. He hits the ball hard.

“I can’t let him play from good positions because he has lot of power… I need to play aggressive, with a higher intensity than him, then we’ll see.”

Nadal wasted no time in making his presence felt on Thursday, breaking to love in the second game as Khachanov felt the brunt of the Spaniard’s forehand.

But the big-hitting Russian grew into the match and broke back as Nadal sent a backhand spinning wide.

That was as good as it got though for Khachanov, as Nadal quickly restored his two-game cushion and served out the opening set to love.

Nadal is bidding for a record 31st Masters title and 24th on clay, and he was far too good for his 21-year-old opponent in the second set.

– Thiem stuns Djokovic –

Thiem, a two-time French Open semi-finalist, was the better player for much of his match against Djokovic and won 6-7 (2/7), 6-2, 6-3.

The Austrian says he will take confidence from his previous wins against Nadal into Friday’s clash.

“It’s (a) way better feeling if you go against him and know that you’ve beaten him already on this surface,” said the 24-year-old Thiem.

“But it’s the ultimate challenge for everybody, to play against him. I have to raise my level again. I think I’m able to do that.”

Former world number one Djokovic has still not reached a quarter-final since Wimbledon last July after struggling with a right elbow injury.

The 12-time Grand Slam champion, now ranked 13, had said he was pain-free in Monte Carlo for the first time in two years, but Thiem backed up his French Open quarter-final win over the Serbian from last year with another impressive victory.

Earlier on Thursday, third seed Alexander Zverev came through a three-set tussle with fellow German Jan-Lennard Struff 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.

But Frenchman Richard Gasquet denied Zverev a meeting with his older brother Mischa by seeing off the serve-and-volleyer 6-2, 7-5 to claim his 500th win on the ATP Tour.

Belgian sixth seed David Goffin held off a late fightback from Roberto Bautista Agut to reach the last eight with a 6-4, 7-5 win, in a match that saw the Spaniard accidentally hit a ball boy with the ball.

Bautista Agut was given a code violation and later fined 2,500 euros ($3,085) for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Goffin will play fourth seed Grigor Dimitrov for a place in the semi-finals in a repeat of last year’s ATP Tour Finals final, after the Bulgarian came back from a set and a break down to beat Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Second seed Marin Cilic is also into the last eight, after Milos Raonic pulled out with a right knee injury before their third-round match on Thursday.

Croatia’s Cilic will take on Kei Nishikori in the quarter-finals, after the Japanese continued his return to form by beating Italian qualifier Andreas Seppi 6-0, 2-6, 6-3.

Thiem, a two-time French Open semi-finalist, was the better player for much of the match and won 6-7 (2/7), 6-2, 6-3 despite a battling effort from Djokovic.

He will take on either world number one Nadal or Russian Karen Khachanov in the quarter-finals.

Nadal was pushed hard at times by Thiem on clay last season, with the 24-year-old beating the 10-time French Open champion in Rome, before slipping to a one-sided semi-final loss at Roland Garros.

“It’s (a) way better feeling if you go against him and know that you’ve beaten him already on this surface,” said Thiem.

“But it’s the ultimate challenge for everybody, to play against him. For sure tomorrow, if I play him, I have to rise my level again. I think I’m able to do that.”

Former world number one Djokovic has still not reached a quarter-final since Wimbledon last July after struggling with a right elbow injury.

The 12-time Grand Slam champion, now ranked 13, had said he was pain-free in Monte Carlo for the first time in two years, but Thiem backed up his French Open quarter-final win over the Serbian from last year with another impressive victory.

World number seven Thiem laid down a marker in the opening stages, holding to love before breaking the Djokovic serve with a clean forehand winner.

Djokovic faced a set point on his own serve when trailing 5-2, but saved it with a volley to force Thiem to serve for the opener.

Novak Djokovic

Thiem brought up two more set points, only for his forehand to break down with two errors as ninth seed Djokovic broke back to force a tie-break.

And Thiem continued to throw in a series of poor shots, double faulting on Djokovic’s first set point as the 30-year-old took the breaker 7-2.

The first few games of the second set went with serve, but Thiem broke for a 3-2 lead on his third break point of the game when Djokovic scooped a wayward backhand off target.

Despite another double fault, Thiem banished the first-set jitters to close out the set at the first time of asking and level the match.

The key moment came in the seventh game of the third set, as Djokovic lost a 40-15 lead and Thiem broke with a venomous backhand up the line.

And the Austrian closed it out with another break on his second match point.

– Zverev sets up possible siblings clash –

Third seed Alexander Zverev came through a three-set tussle with fellow German Jan-Lennard Struff to set up a potential first ATP Tour meeting with his older brother Mischa.

The 20-year-old, who won two Masters titles last season, became frustrated in the second set but came through 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 and will play either Mischa or Richard Gasquet in the last eight.

Belgian sixth seed David Goffin held off a late fightback from Roberto Bautista Agut to reach the last eight with a 6-4, 7-5 win, in a match that saw the Spaniard accidentally hit a ball boy with the ball.

“I don’t know what the rules are exactly and how he could only get a warning,” said Goffin.

“He was saying the ball bounced, and the ball boy just happened to be there. Unlucky for him.”

Goffin will play fourth seed Grigor Dimitrov for a place in the semi-finals in a repeat of last year’s ATP Tour Finals final, after the Bulgarian came back from a set and a break down to beat Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Second seed Marin Cilic is also into the last eight, after Milos Raonic pulled out with a right knee injury before their third-round match on Thursday.

Croatia’s Cilic will face either Kei Nishikori or Italian qualifier Andreas Seppi next.

The left wing-back appeared to stand on the back of Long’s leg during their Premier League game on Saturday and the incident went unpunished by referee Mike Dean.

Alonso was found guilty at a hearing on Wednesday. He is ruled out of Thursday’s Premier League game at Burnley, Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final against Southampton and the league trip to Swansea on April 28.

“Marcos Alonso will miss Chelsea’s next three matches after an Independent Regulatory Commission ruled he had committed an act of violent conduct against Southampton’s Shane Long,” the FA said in a statement.

“Alonso denied the charge and further submitted that if found proven the suspension would be excessive. However, this was rejected following Wednesday’s hearing.”

The 27-year-old defender was this week named in the Professional Footballers’ Association’s Premier League team of the year, the only representative from Chelsea.

The 20-year-old, who won two Masters titles last season, became frustrated in the second set but came through 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 and will play either his older brother Mischa or Richard Gasquet in the last eight.

“Hopefully my brother will win and it will be an amazing day tomorrow,” said the younger Zverev.

The world number four claimed the opening set thanks to a break in game seven, before a bizarre second set in which both players struggled on serve.

Zverev became increasingly frustrated as he constantly gave away leads, complaining that advertising cushions on the side of the court were dangerous.

Struff claimed the set to level the match with the seventh break of serve in only eight games, as Zverev hurled his racquet to the ground in frustration.

He refound his range in the decider, though, racing into a 5-2 lead with a double break.

Zverev was broken to love when serving for a place in the last eight and then missed a match point in Struff’s following service game, but finally got over the line as his opponent fired wide.

Belgian sixth seed David Goffin held off a late fightback from Roberto Bautista Agut to reach the last eight with a 6-4, 7-5 win, in a match that saw the Spaniard accidentally hit a ballboy with the ball.

The 11th seed was broken to slip 4-1 down in the second set, and when returning the ball to the other side of the net, inadvertently saw it strike a ballboy as he ran across the front of the net.

Bautista Agut received a code violation, before saving two match points and winning four straight games to level at 5-5.

But Goffin broke again and served out the match at the third attempt to book a quarter-final against either Grigor Dimitrov or Philipp Kohlschreiber.

After submitting a formal application for Full Member status of IMSA earlier , representatives of FCG presented to IMSA’s Executive Council on 18 April 2018 during the on-going SportAccord Summit in Bangkok the tremendous progress it has made in elevating the status of card games towards becoming a mind sport around the world.

FCG, found in Lausanne, Switzerland, is an international association established by uniting multiple regional card game organizations. Thailand is also one of the 42 member countries of FCG.

FCG is active in adding popular regional card games into the federation, with the goal of creating a global group of highly popular games enjoyed by its members globally.

Since becoming IMSA’s Observer Member exactly one year ago, FCG has organized numerous exhibitions, matches and tournaments. Currently it consists of 42 members around the world.  Through systematizing and sportifiying the game, FCG is committed to transforming card games from casual entertainment already enjoyed by many, to a globally respected professional mind sport.

The Gunners are currently six points adrift of fifth-placed London rivals Chelsea, with both sides having a maximum of 15 points to play for from their five remaining league games this season.

Arsenal’s best hope of qualifying for European football, next season, however, could lie in winning this term’s Europa League, where they face Atletico Madrid in a two-legged semi-final.

Sunday saw Arsene Wenger’s men suffer a fifth successive away league defeat when they lost 2-1 at Newcastle and Arsenal goalkeeper Cech told the London Evening Standard on Wednesday: “We are in the two competitions, so now need to keep switching between them and do our best. We are in a position now where we must win all our remaining games and hope it lifts us in the table.

“We are in a very difficult moment because everybody else has a big advantage.”

The former Chelsea star added: “In the Europa League, we have a semi-final to play, so we need to make sure we are ready.”

Meanwhile, Cech was at a loss to understand Arsenal’s worst run of away league results in over 30 years.

“It’s very difficult to explain why because until last season, we were one of the best teams in terms of the away record,” he said. “But somehow it has completely reversed this season and we don’t seem to find the answer for it.

“When you commit so many team mistakes, away or home, you get punished and Sunday proved that. Of course you try to address that, but clearly the same things are happening.

“We don’t do these mistakes — the team mistakes — when we play at home.”

Goals from Chris Smalling and Romelu Lukaku sealed the points at Dean Court after Mourinho made seven changes in the aftermath of United’s shock defeat to struggling West Bromwich Albion on Sunday.

That limp surrender had gifted the Premier League title to Manchester City, prompting Mourinho to accuse his players of complacency.

In a bid to shake up his under-performing stars and rest key players, the United manager rang the changes against Bournemouth, with Lukaku, Alexis Sanchez and Juan Mata among the big names left out of the starting line-up ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final against Tottenham.

Paul Pogba kept his place despite mounting speculation Mourinho is ready to sell the out-of-form France midfielder in the close-season.

Mourinho’s hardline stance appeared to sting his players into action as Smalling opened the scoring in the first half.

Lukaku came off the bench to seal the points in the closing stages as United consolidated second place in the Premier League.

Mourinho was impressed with the work done by his new-look side and claimed he would have to think hard before deciding his Cup line-up.

“Everything was good, I am happy. Every player on the pitch was positive and put himself available for Saturday,” Mourinho said.

“The players were in the right positions and not trying one more flick, one more trick.

“I will not play this 11 at Wembley but all of them told me (with their performances) that they want to play and they are ready.

“Obviously I will bring back Lukaku, Antonio Valencia, Nemanja Matic.”

Pogba was widely criticised for his lacklustre display against Albion — the latest in a long line of disappointing efforts from the former Juventus star since his move to United two seasons ago.

That sparked talk that Mourinho has told United to put Pogba up for sale, just days after Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said he had been offered the chance to sign the midfielder by his agent in January.

Whether Pogba features at Wembley this weekend will go some way to showing whether he is still part of Mourinho’s long-term plans, but he at least impressed his boss for one night after winning the man of the match award.

“I’m not very good on man of the match, I’m not a big fan of it, but Paul Pogba played very well,” Mourinho said.

“Against Man City he was phenomenal but today he was very, very good. A good choice.”

Mourinho’s side are 14 points clear of fifth placed Chelsea and will be guaranteed to qualify for the Champions League if the Blues fail to beat Burnley on Thursday.

“The first ambition was to finish in the top four and now one point is probably enough. When we have that resolved we can think about third and second place,” Mourinho added.

Smalling put United ahead in the 28th minute when he tapped in from Jesse Lingard’s cross despite Bournemouth appeals for offside.

Having survived two Bournemouth penalty appeals — including Luke Shaw blocking out Callum Wilson as he tried to finish off a cross — United doubled their lead in the 70th minute.

Pogba was slightly more effective after his recent troubles and he created United’s second goal.

Breaking up a Bournemouth attack, he galloped clear and picked out Lukaku’s run with a perfectly-weighted pass.

Lukaku capped the raid by slotting past Bournemouth goalkeeper Asmir Begovic to claim his 27th goal of the season.

That clinched United’s sixth win in their last seven league games, but all eyes remained on Pogba.

He was substituted soon after and initially headed straight down the tunnel, but was directed to the bench, where he took a seat on the back row like a naughty child at school.

Djokovic, playing only his fourth tournament since Wimbledon last July after struggling with a right elbow injury, overcame some late nerves to win 7-6 (7/2), 7-5 in the second-round clash.

“It was a real battle. I mean, I could have won the match earlier definitely, but it was great to deal with these kind of emotions again,” said the 12-time Grand Slam champion.

Djokovic is working with long-time former coach Marian Vajda for the first time in almost a year after splitting from Andre Agassi, and the 30-year-old has looked rejuvenated in Monaco after early exits in Indian Wells and Miami.

The Serbian will next face Austrian fifth seed Dominic Thiem with a possible quarter-final against defending champion Nadal, who plays Karen Khachanov in the last 16 on Thursday, up for grabs.

But Djokovic insisted he wasn’t looking past the clash with Thiem, a French Open semi-finalist in each of the last two years.

“It’s disrespectful towards Dominic and Dominic’s tennis… To think about and talk about potentially a match-up with Nadal,” Djokovic added.

“Last year in Roland Garros he beat me in straight sets. He’s definitely (a) top-three player in the world on clay.”

Djokovic came through a tight first set in a tie-break and moved a break clear in the second, before late drama as he missed nine chances to close out the match.

The ninth seed rediscovered his composure, though, to finally complete the job at the 10th time of asking as the 39th-ranked Coric sent a backhand flying long.

Two-time Monte Carlo winner Djokovic said that he has gained power since changing to a lighter racquet to try and take pressure off his troublesome elbow.

“It feels like I gained more power, especially on the serve. I gained more angle,” he said.

“The racquet is the most important tool that we have, but it’s not more important than our body and our mind, our movements. So it is a tool that helps, but it doesn’t play for you.”

Nadal makes ‘positive’ start 

Nadal started his bid for an 11th Monte Carlo title with a comfortable victory over Slovenia’s Bedene.

The 16-time Grand Slam winner, like Djokovic, is looking for a record 31st Masters title, and he swatted aside Bedene for the loss of only four games.

The 31-year-old Spaniard said he still needs more time on court after playing his first tour match since an injury-hit Australian Open quarter-final exit in January.

“It’s a positive start, of course. It’s important for me to win matches… I need days on court,” said Nadal.

“Since Shanghai last year, I (have) spent not enough time on court competing.

“Every match that I have the chance to win is great news because it’s confidence and is a chance to play another day, and that’s what I need.”

Japan’s Kei Nishikori continued his comeback from injury with an impressive 7-5, 6-2 win over Russian Daniil Medvedev.

The former world number four, who has struggled over the last year with a right wrist injury, followed up his first-round victory against Tomas Berdych with a solid display on centre court.

“The first set was a real battle, he was playing a little better than me I think at the beginning,” said Nishikori.

“I just tried to stay calm and not do anything too crazy and stay calm at the baseline.”

Second seed Marin Cilic safely negotiated a potentially-tricky opener against Fernando Verdasco, winning 6-3, 7-6 (7/4).

The former US Open champion will take on Canadian Milos Raonic in round three on Thursday.

Russian Khachanov cruised past Gilles Simon 6-2, 6-2, while last year’s runner-up Albert Ramos-Vinolas slumped to a 6-4, 6-2 defeat by Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Italian qualifier Andreas Seppi came from a set down to beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and progress to a tie with Nishikori.

Thailand after causing a hype all over the Kingdom by booking their slot into the  2019 World Cup for the second straight time following a 3-1 win over the Philippines in the group stage last week put up a gutsy fight against the 2010 champions only to come short in the sudden death.

However team manager Nualphan was more than happy to see a great fight from her players although Thailand failed to reach their second Asian Cup final since their first in 1983.

“I feel so proud and overwhelmed by the performance of the players. For me we are the winners and I’m sure they captured the hearts of the fans back at home as well,” said Nualphan who would reward her team Bt20 million incentive money for successfully qualifying for the World Cup Final.

“Actually Australia are stronger than we are in several areas. Many people even predicted that we would lose badly. But the girls already proved that anything could happen if they worked as a team,” added Nualphan, chairperson of the Thai League’s Port FC.

The manager also viewed that competing with pressure free attitude was the key factor that inspired extraordinary performance from the players.

“As we already qualified for the World Cup, we have nothing to lose in the last two games (semi-final and third place play-off) which are our bonus. Several young players did a great job even they were sent to play for the first time,” she said.

Thailand will face China in the third place game on April 20 at 8.45pm Bangkok time. Thailand already lost to China 0-4 in the group stage on April 6. Australia will play Japan in the final also on April 20.

“I hope the girls will maintain this level of play and produce some stunning result against China to surprise the fans,” Nualphan said.

A two-time French Open semi-finalist, Thiem recovered from a set down to book a last-16 clash against either Novak Djokovic or Borna Coric with a 5-7, 7-5, 7-5 victory.

Thiem is playing in his first tournament since suffering an ankle injury at Indian Wells last month.

Rublev spurned a chance to seal the match when he fired a forehand narrowly wide on his own serve late in the deciding set.

“I had to fight from the first to the last point, which of course I did well. But I was also lucky at the end when he had a match point and missed a forehand by 10 centimetres or so,” said 24-year-old Thiem.

“I was 10 centimetres from being out of the tournament.”

The 24-year-old Thiem could also have to face defending champion Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals if he can get past Djokovic or the in-form Coric on Thursday.

“It’s a horrible draw for sure, from the first round on,” conceded Thiem.

“But I’m happy that I played two hours and forty (minutes)… But I’m looking forward to watching Djokovic and Coric in front of the TV and then playing the winner on Thursday.”

– Dimitrov, Zverev go through –

Fourth seed Dimitrov came from a set down to see off French qualifier Pierre-Hugues Herbert 3-6, 6-2, 6-4.

Herbert started quickly, breaking in game three as Dimitrov struggled.

The world number five has often found life difficult on clay, having never reached the second week of the French Open.

And Herbert, the world number 82, wrapped up the opening set with another break as Dimitrov mishit a forehand into the stands.

But Dimitrov stepped up his game midway through the second set, reeling off five consecutive games to level the match.

The 26-year-old, who won the Cincinnati Masters and the ATP Tour Finals last season, threw away an early break in the third set, but quickly refocused to finish off the spirited Herbert.

“I was just a little bit rusty, I haven’t played a match in about three weeks,” said Dimitrov.

“All I (could) do was just fight and find a way to win, how doesn’t really matter.”

Third seed Alexander Zverev also fell behind to Luxemburger Gilles Muller, before coming through 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

The 20-year-old German, who is bidding for his third Masters title, broke to lead 4-3 in the opening set, but let his level slip as Muller forged ahead.

But Zverev, the world number four, bookended the second set with breaks of serve and easily ended the unseeded Muller’s challenge in fading light to progress to a last-16 match against either Fabio Fognini or Jan-Lennard Struff.

“It wasn’t easy, but I found my rhythm in the second and third sets,” he said.

Earlier, French number one Lucas Pouille blew a one-set lead to be dumped out by Zverev’s older brother Mischa in a third-set tie-break.

Seventh seed Pouille, a semi-finalist last year, eased through the first set but Zverev hit back to claim a 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7/3) victory and reach the third round for the first time in his career.

The world number 55 trailed 4-2 in the decider, but broke back immediately before clinching the tie-break when a Pouille return dropped into the base of the net.

Elsewhere, David Goffin edged out Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-6 (7/4), 7-5 to reach the last 16 for the third year in a row.

The Belgian sixth seed, who lost to Nadal in last year’s semi-finals, sealed victory on his fourth match point.

Fernando Verdasco saved three match points to beat Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas in a first-round match, while Briton Kyle Edmund lost in three sets to Andreas Seppi, less than 48 hours after a final defeat in Marrakech by Pablo Andujar.