UPDATE 4-Tennis-Nadal crushes Soderling to reach Rome quarters

* World number one Nadal blasts away Soderling

* Holder Djokovic breezes past Robredo

* Second seed Federer has easy win over Stepanek

(adds Nadal quotes)

By Paul Virgo

ROME, April 30 (Reuters) - Top seed Rafael Nadal swept aside Swede Robin Soderling 6-1 6-0 at the Rome Masters on Thursday to book a quarter-final with fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco while Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer also had easy wins.

Holder Djokovic breezed past 13th seed Tommy Robredo 6-1 6-1 to set up a last-eight clash with Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro and Federer beat the number 16 seed Radek Stepanek 6-4 6-1 to avenge last year's defeat here by the Czech.

World number one Nadal, a three-time winner in Rome, made a slow start and needed six deuces to hold serve in the marathon second game. He soon found his stride though, unleashing some venomous forehands to break in the following game.

Nadal did not lose another game, although Soderling could have made it more interesting by taking better advantage of five break points in the first set.