Rafael Nadal booked his spot in the quarter final without conceding a set as he saw off compatriot and good friend Feliciano Lopez in straight sets.
The new and heavier racket that Nadal has switched to at the beginning of the season seems to be working a treat as he has looked steady on serve all week - having been broken just four times.
Lopez chose to rally with Nadal at the baseline rather than playing his game closer to the net and it was a tactic that wouldn’t work for him.
Nadal made the breakthrough in the third game as he broke the Lopez serve to edge ahead. Lopez on the other hand never even got a sniff of the Nadal serve as he dropped just four points on serve in that opening set.
That single break was enough for Nadal to seal the set 6-4. Into the second and Lope stayed with Nadal for the opening six games until the world number two broke for the second time to lead 4-3.
Much like the first set that single break was enough for Rafa to take the set 6-4 and a comeback from Lopez looped unlikely.
It was all about Nadal in that final set as he broke his compatriot’s serve on two more occasions to wrap up a 6-4 6-4 6-2 win.
Speaking to the ATP after the match Nadal said: "Sometimes in a few tournaments, I feel that I am improving day by day.
"But this time I felt that the first day I played well, and the second [day], and two days ago [as well]. And today I played another complete match."
For a place in the semi-final Nadal will have to see off the challenge from seventh seed Tomas Berdych who came through against Nicolas Almagro in four sets.
But the match ended in an unsavoury manner when Berdych refused to shake the hand of his opponent after accusing Almagro of deliberately hitting a ball at him.
It happened at the back end of the match when Almagro, who was close to the net at the time, fired a ball directly at Berdych.
The seventh seed did come through the match 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(3), 7-6(2) to set up the clash with the world number two.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
by Helen Earnshaw
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