BARCELONA: Seven-time winner Rafael Nadal won back-to-back matches to advance to the semifinals of the Barcelona Open yesterday.
After rain forced several third-round matches to be pushed back, Nadal started the day by beating Benoit Paire of France 7-6 (2), 6-2. The fifth-ranked Spaniard then defeated Albert Ramos 6-3, 6-0 after his overmatched opponent had downed Kei Nishikori of Japan 6-4, 7-6 (4) earlier.
“I played much better in the second match than in the morning,” Nadal said after finishing off Ramos. “Above all in the second set, when Albert made more mistakes than usual.” Nadal has won 37 straight matches on the red clay at Real Club de Tenis and is on course to make his sixth straight final this year after returning from a long injury layoff.
He will face either Milos Raonic or Tommy Robredo on Saturday.
Nadal responded well to the test of playing two matches in the same day as he continues to work his way back to full form since he returned in February from a nagging case of tendinitis in his left knee that had sidelined him for more than half a year.
The 26-year-old former No. 1 has impressed since coming back, but his loss to Novak Djokovic last weekend that ended his eight-year winning run at Monte Carlo awakened questions of whether he’s ready to compete for the much more grueling French Open next month. Nadal has won at Roland Garros a record seven times.
“I got through a complicated day fine,” Nadal said.
Earlier, Robredo fought back from a set down to eliminate sixth-ranked Tomas Berdych 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3 in the third round.
The unseeded Robredo hit a winner that clipped the baseline to break Berdych’s serve for the fourth time on match point.
Raonic, for his part, defeated Ernests Gulbis 6-2, 7-6 (6).
Fourth-seeded Nicolas Almagro beat Juan Monaco 6-3, 7-5 to make his third semifinal in the Catalan capital after he broke the Argentine’s serve late before serving out the second set.
Almagro will play Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany in the semifinals after the German advanced two rounds despite playing just six games.
“I’m excited to have a shot at making my first final here in Barcelona, but it won’t be easy,” Almagro said. “Kohlschreiber has a great return.” Kohlschreiber rallied past Martin Klizan of Slovakia 1-6, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (5) after their third-round match was postponed on Thursday with Klizan leading 4-3 in the third set. Kohlschreiber then automatically advanced to the semifinals after Thomaz Bellucci withdrew.
In his first match, Nadal got off to a sluggish start, but once he found his rhythm he didn’t look back.
Nadal’s steady ground game forced Paire to make three errors in the first-set tiebreaker to move in front.
Nadal took control of the second set when he broke Paire to love to go ahead 3-2 after the Frenchman’s serve suddenly failed him and he hit consecutive double-faults.
Paire had a chance to break back in the next game but hit long and slammed his racket into the ground. Nadal went on to take the game and sealed the match when Paire’s drop shot fell well short.
Instead of wearing down, Nadal appeared to have worked out the kinks in his match with Paire, and after a couple of hours of rest he rolled over Ramos.
Nadal made quick work of the 64th-ranked rival by taking his first service games in each set. He didn’t give Ramos one opportunity to break his serve and polished the match off in one hour, five minutes.
Nadal last lost at the Barcelona Open 10 years ago to Spain’s Davis Cup captain, Alex Corretja.
Sharapova in last four
In Stuttgart, Germany, top-seeded Maria Sharapova got through another tough test in outlasting Ana Ivanovic 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 yesterday to advance to the semifinals of the Porsche Grand Prix.
Sharapova, the defending champion, needed more than three hours to overcome Lucie Safarova a day earlier. This one was an hour shorter but perhaps just as intense.
“It was hard to get my body going, I need some time to warm up a little,” Sharapova said. “Another tough one.” Sharapova used this indoor clay-court tournament last year to warm up for the French Open, where she won the title.
Against Ivanovic, another former No. 1 and the 2008 French Open champion, Sharapova squandered a 4-1 lead in the third set before breaking serve again and serving out the match on her second match point.
Sharapova will next play third-seeded Angelique Kerber, who defeated Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan 6-3, 7-6 (2) to reach her third semifinal of the season.
Germany’s No. 1 player is looking for her first title of the year after finishing runner-up in Monterrey. She made the last four in Stuttgart for the first time.
Shvedova trailed 4-1 before breaking back. But she dropped her serve again with two errors from the baseline. The two traded breaks in the first three games of the second before Kerber opened a 3-1 lead, only to see Shvedova pull level at 3-3. Kerber raced to a decisive 5-1 lead in the tiebreaker.
“I played my game and I was aggressive,” Kerber said.
