Nadal routs Rochus; Nalbandian out
BARCELONA, Spain -- Rafael Nadal breezed to his 23rd straight match on clay Thursday, beating Christophe Rochus of Belgium 6-2, 6-0 to reach the Barcelona Open quarterfinals.
Nadal had 28 winners to Rochus' seven.
Need the scores from any match played in today's tournaments? The top-ranked Spaniard is looking to win a fifth straight Godo trophy in Barcelona. He got one step closer when quarterfinal opponent David Nalbandian withdrew with a right hip injury on Thursday.
Earlier, Nalbandian had defeated Nicolas Almagro of Spain 6-3, 6-4.
Rochus wilted in the warm conditions, losing his serve twice in the opening set as Nadal overcame a number of unforced errors.
Nadal, who has lost only three of his past 131 matches on clay, stretched to his right to send a backhand passing shot beyond Rochus to open the second set with a break. He closed it out on his second match point when the Rochus sent a backhand wide.
Spanish players David Ferrer and Tommy Robredo both rallied to advance. Ferrer best 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 since Nadal's run, broke Andreev three times and saved all five break points he faced.
Ninth-seeded Radek Stepanek also reached the quarterfinals, beating Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland 6-4, 1-6, 7-5. Stepanek will next play either third-seeded Nikolay Davydenko or Feliciano Lopez.
Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press
