Barcelona Open: Nadal eyes semi-final berth

World number one Rafael Nadal will continue his quest for a record 11th Barcelona Open title when he squares off against Slovakia's Martin Klizan in the quarter-finals of the men's singles event here on Friday.

Yesterday, the top-seed continued his rich vein of form on clay court as he eased past his Spaniard compatriot Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-1, 6-3 in a one-sided last-16 clash that lasted one hour and 18 minutes.

With the win, Nadal has booked his place in the last-eight for the 12th time in his 14 appearances at Barcelona.

Klizan, on the other hand, defeated his fellow countryman Feliciano Lopez 6-1, 6-4 in another last-16 clash of the men's singles event.

Nadal has now won 55 out of the 58 clashes he has played in Barcelona so far besides also extending his consecutive sets won on clay streak to 40.

Nadal, who headed into the tournament on the back of his eleventh Monte Carlo crown last weekend, needs to win his 11th title in Barcelona in order to remain at the top spot in the ATP Rankings, or else Swiss tennis maestro ad his long-time rival Roger Federer will take over.

In another quarter-final clashes, Belgium's David Goffin will take on Spain's Roberto Bautista Agut while second-seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria will face fifth-seed Pablo Carreño Busta of Spain.