World No. 1 Rafael Nadal notched the 499th win of his career on Friday as he dismissed former Roland Garros semi-finalist Gael Monfils 6-2, 6-2 in the quarter-finals of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell.
The Spaniard was commanding on serve, surrendering just eight points to Monfils, and broke the Frenchman’s serve four times from nine opportunities to wrap up the comfortable victory in 75 minutes. It marked his 27th consecutive win at the ATP World Tour 500 clay-court tournament in Barcelona.
The 24-year-old Nadal is aiming for a sixth title at the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona 1899, having won five successive trophies between 2005-2009. He has only lost two sets in Barcelona since bowing out in the second round (l. Corretja) on his 2003 debut.
The Mallorcan opened his clay-court campaign in style last week, winning the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters for the seventh year in a row with victory over David Ferrer. Leading in, he had finished runner-up to Novak Djokovic at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 hard-court tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami.
In the semi-finals, Nadal will face either countryman and fellow left-hander, Feliciano Lopez, or Croatian Ivan Dodig.
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SOURCE atp
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