BARCELONA, Spain -- Rafael Nadal extended his unbeaten run
on clay to 70 matches Friday and advanced to the semifinals of the
Barcelona Open by beating Potito Starace of Italy 6-2, 7-5.
After dropping serve to Starace in the 10th game of the second
set, the two-time defending champion immediately broke the Italian
for the fourth time before serving out the win.
"I came out on top in the difficult moments," Nadal said.
"The truth is I didn't feel great, especially in the second set
when I had a few break point chances against me."
Nadal goes for his 12th championship in the streak. He next plays David Ferrer of Spain, who beat David Nalbandian of Argentina 7-6 (5), 6-2.
After no breaks of serve in the first set, the fifth-seeded
Ferrer broke twice in the second set to improve to 4-0 on clay
against the fourth-seeded Argentine.
"This year I'm playing consistently, I'm relaxed with my game
and I think this is the best start to a season of my career,"
Ferrer said. "With Rafael Nadal as the opponent tomorrow, the
title looks very far away, but I'll bring everything without
forgetting he is the favorite."
Ferrer has beaten Nadal only once in four meetings, on clay at
Stuttgart in 2004.
Guillermo Canas of Argentina also advanced after second-seeded
Nikolay Davydenko withdrew ahead of their quarterfinals match
because of an injury.
Canas will face Agustin Calleri, who beat Oscar Hernandez 6-0,
6-3.
Calleri broke Hernandez five times without dropping a single
service game to match his best finish in Barcelona. Calleri lost to
eventual champion Carlos Moya in the semifinals in 2003.