David Ferrer has progressed into the quarter-finals of the Barcelona Open with a straight-sets victory over Elias Ymer.

The world number eight came through 6-3 6-4 after one hour and 28 minutes of play.

Ymer, who is ranked 200 places below Ferrer, struggled to contain his opponent in the first set as the Spaniard raced into a 4-0 lead.

Ymer responded with a break, but Ferrer regained his composure to serve out the first set.

Ferrer made a poor start to the second set as it was Ymer who established a 4-0 advantage. The Swedish player broke Ferrer twice and held serve well, as he looked on course to level the match.

However, Ferrer fought back with three breaks of his own in succession to move 5-4 ahead and set up the opportunity to serve for the match.

The third seed made no mistake, serving out the match at the first attempt to set up a clash with either Philipp Kohlschreiber or Benoit Paire in the last eight.