Five Spaniards won third round matches Thursday to advance to the quarterfinals at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, including world #1 Rafael Nadal.
Nadal needed just under an hour and a half to knock out Colombian Santiago Giraldo in straight sets, 6-3 6-1. Nadal is looking for his sixth title in Barcelona after missing the tournament last year--he won the event five consecutive years from 2005-2009. Giraldo, ranked #54, provided a test for the first six games of the match, trading breaks with the King of Clay and mixing up his shots beautifully. But Nadal proved to be too much for the top-ranked Colombian player. Once Nadal got his nose out front, Giraldo started to lose confidence and unforced errors started to take their toll. Nadal cruised into the quarters where he’ll meet #7 seed Frenchman Gael Monfils, who beat his countryman Richard Gasquet 6-4 7-6(7).
Keeping alive the possibility for a rematch of last week’s final in Monte Carlo, David Ferrer easily dispatched Victor Hanescu in the first match of the day on Pista Principal. Ferrer continued his excellent play on clay with consistent groundstrokes and clever angles, never facing a break point in a 6-3 6-2 win over the 66th ranked Romanian. Ferrer will face Austrian Jurgen Melzer, the #6 seed, who was the only player to defeat a Spaniard Thursday, taking out #11 seed Albert Montanes after dropping the first set, 6-7(2) 6-3 6-2.
The three other Spanish winners were all on the lower half of the draw, including a monumental win for Nicolas Almagro. He took down the former #3 player in the world, Nikolay Davydenko 7-6(2) 6-3, assuring himself a spot in the top 10 when the new rankings are released Monday. After securing the final point, Almagro went into a jubilant celebration with friends and family looking on from his box. Almagro will be the third Spanish player in the top 10, joining Nadal and Ferrer.
Almagro will face former #1 player in the world Juan Carlos Ferrero in the quarterfinals. Ferrero, also a Spaniard, is competing in his first tournament since last year’s US Open. He beat Italian qualifier Simone Vagnozzi in three tough sets, 7-6(3) 4-6 6-4. Joining the Spanish parade into the quarterfinals was Feliciano Lopez, like Ferrero unseeded in this tournament. Lopez beat Kei Nishikori of Japan 6-4 7-6(5). Nishikori was riding a hot streak coming into the tournament, having reached the final in Houston two weeks ago and carrying the highest-ever ranking for a Japanese player. Lopez will meet surprise quarterfinalist Ivan Dodig of Croatia. Dodig upset Canadian Milos Raonic, seeded #15, 7-6(0) 4-6 6-3 in the last match of the day on the red clay courts of the Real Club de Tenis. Raonic burst on scene earlier this year at the Australian Open with a run to the 4th round before falling to Ferrer in four sets. Ferrer also beat Raonic last week in the 3rd round at Monte Carlo. Lopez and Dodig, who has made his own impressive run up the rankings this year, will be the only quarterfinal match between two unseeded players.
All quarterfinal matches will be played Friday. Nadal and Monfils will get things started at 12:30 local time, followed by Ferrer-Melzer, Dodig-Lopez and Almagro-Ferrero.
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