Rafael Nadal struggled with a swirling wind and a tenacious opponent before holding on for his 70th straight clay-court win on Friday to reach the semi-finals of the Barcelona Open.
The world number two finally overcame persistent Italian Potito Starace 6-2, 7-5 in their quarter-final to set up a semi-final encounter with fifth seed David Ferrer after his 7-6 (7/5), 6-2 defeat of Argentine David Nalbandian.
Nadal, Spain's 20-year-old king of clay, was denied victory on his first opportunity, losing serve while leading a set and 5-4 as a backhand went astray.
The winner of the last two editions at the Real club didn't panic, breaking number 72 Starace straight back and assuring the survival of his all-time mark a game later after one hour, 24 minutes.
Nadal, who struck 18 unforced errors, admitted his victory was a chore.
"I had trouble with the wind, it was really swirling," said the man who has not lost on clay in more than two years. "The conditions made this win very difficult."
Nadal, winner of the last two French Open crowns at Roland Garros, has won the 11 clay court finals in which he has appeared in since a quarter-final loss to Igor Andreev in April 2005 in Valencia.
The Spaniard improved to 25-5 for this year with Masters Series titles in the past month at Indian Wells and Monte Carlo.
Nadal needs two more victories to become the second player in Barcelona history to win three consecutive titles, Sweden's Mats Wilander achieving the feat in 1982-1984.
Meanwhile second seed Nikolay Davydenko fell victim to an over-aggressive massage and was unable to play his quarter-final against 12th seed Guillermo Canas.
"After my match last night, I had a deep massage on my wrist and elbow but it ended up blocking some nerves in my wrist," the Russian said. "I can't move the fingers on my right hand very well and am unable to play."
Canas, who beat Roger Federer twice last month, will face Agustin Calleri of Argentina who defeated Spaniard Oscar Hernandez 6-0, 6-3.
Ferrer improved to a dominating 5-1 over Nalbandian, including 4-0 on clay.
Nalbandian has struggled all season to keep his head above water, his record now standing a dead-level 9-9.
The 25-year-old former Wimbledon finalist also reached the last eight in Barcelona in 2004.
Ferrer improved to 23-9 on the season with a hardcourt title to hand from Auckland in January. His previous best effort in Barcelona was the third round at the last two editions.
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