Rafael Nadal’s return to the tennis court gathered momentum with the Spaniard scoring an easy two-set victory in his singles debut at the Brazil Open on Thursday.

The former world No.1 needed only 78 minutes to prevail over Brazilian Joao Souza, ranked 101st in the world 6-3 6-4.

Nadal advanced to the quarter-finals which will be played Friday.

“It was an important victory for me,” Nadal said.

“The conditions are very difficult. The court is very fast, the ball too.”

Asked about his injured left knee, he replied: “Today I think it was acceptable, normal. Let’s hope it will be the same tomorrow. The important things is that it (the knee) does not hurt.”

The Spanish star on Wednesday withdrew from a scheduled doubles match he was to have played with Argentina’s David Nalbandian against Argentine Horacio Zeballos and Austrian Oliver Marach, citing “knee overuse”.

Nadal, currently ranked No.5 in the world, only returned to the tour in Chile last week after a seven-month injury absence.

The 11-time grand slam champion, who lost both the singles and doubles finals on Sunday at his comeback event in Vina del Mar, Chile, is the top seed at this week’s event.