Rafter cruises through

Pat Rafter has a good record on grass

Patrick Rafter cruised through to the quarter-finals of the Halle ATP tournament in Germany on Tuesday.

The Australian number-two seed, who has only recently returned to competition after shaking off a niggling elbow injury, beat Czech Daniel Vacek 6-3 6-4.

He now faces Romania's Andrei Pavel, who moved into the last eight with a two-set win over another Czech, Bohdan Ulihrach.

French number-three seed, Sebastien Grosjean, said he was tired after taking three sets to depose Zimbabwe's Wayne Black 5-7 6-3 6-1.

"I'm really mentally tired after Roland-Garros," said the French Open semi-finalist.

Grosjean, who called the event "great preparation" for Wimbledon, now takes on compatriot Fabrice Santoro, who breezed past local talent Alexander Popp 6-2 6-3.

Arnaud Clement will return home to Marseille to have his troublesome shoulder examined after he crashed out 6-3 6-4 to Nicolas Kiefer.

"It's not so bad," said Clement, who crashed out of Roland-Garros at the first hurdle two weeks ago.

Another Frenchman, Nicolas Escude, beat Canada's Daniel Nestor 6-1 6-2 to earn a quarter-fianl date with eighth-seeded Tomy Haas.