Rafael Nadal Beats Christophe Rochus

Rafael Nadal easily won his 23rd straight match on clay in beating Christophe Rochus of Belgium 6-2, 6-0 in the third round of the Barcelona Open on Thursday.

The top-ranked Spaniard, who was looking to win a fifth straight Godo trophy, advanced directly to the semifinals shortly after his win because quarter-final opponent David Nalbandian withdrew from the tournament with a right hip injury.

“It’s not nice to reach the semifinals like this but I have to think positively, to know that I’m in the semifinals, which is good news, and I’ll be trying to give my all,” Nadal was quoted as saying by news agency Europa Press.

Nadal, who has lost only three of his last 131 matches on clay, had 28 winners to Rochus’ seven as the 61st-ranked Belgian wilted in the warm playing conditions.

Seventh-seeded Nalbandian beat 10th-seeded Nicolas Almagro of Spain 6-3, 6-4, but that will be his last match at the Barcelona tournament this year.

Nadal will face either third-seeded Nikolay Davydenko or ninth-seeded Radek Stepanek in the semifinals.

Russia’s Davydenko ousted Spain’s Feliciano Lopez 7-6 (8), 3-6, 6-4, while Stepanek beat Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland 6-4, 1-6, 7-5.

Also, second-seeded Fernando Verdasco of Spain advanced after a hard-fought 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 victory over Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic in a match which lasted two hours 17 minutes.

Verdasco, who had not reached the quarter-finals in his five previous Barcelona Open appearances, will next meet Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez. Fifth-seeded Gonzalez beat unseeded Juan Monaco of Argentina 7-6 (6), 6-3.

Two more Spanish players, fourth-seeded David Ferrer and sixth-seeded Tommy Robredo, will meet in the quarter-finals after both staged rallies. Ferrer beat Potito Starace of Italy 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 while Robredo defeated Igor Andreev of Russia 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Robredo, the last man to win at Barcelona before Nadal’s run, broke Andreev three times and saved all five break points he faced.