BARCELONA, May 2: Rafael Nadal took his remarkable record to 100 wins in his last 101 matches on clay by beating fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-4, 6-3 on Thursday to reach the Barcelona Open quarter-finals.

The top seed, chasing his fourth consecutive title here, appeared unaffected by strapping on his left shoulder as he eased through.

Nadal’s run of victories on clay dates back to his first Monte Carlo title in 2005, with his only defeat on the surface in that time coming against world No 1 Roger Federer in the final of the Hamburg Masters last May.

“It’s nice but I am more happy to be in the Barcelona quarter-finals,” said Nadal. “It’s one of my favourite tournaments. It was a difficult match with lots of long service games so I am happy to get through.”

After missing three break-point chances at 1-1, Nadal broke serve in the fifth game.

The world No 2 then broke twice more in the second set to line up a meeting with Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela, who beat Latvian Ernests Gulbis 2-6 6-4 6-3.

Second seed David Ferrer of Spain came through a gruelling 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 struggle with Nicolas Lapentti while Argentine third seed David Nalbandian was destroyed 6-3, 6-1 by Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka.

Nalbandian led 3-1 before Wawrinka came roaring back to record his fifth successive win over the Argentine.

“He started very well but I always try to get as many balls back as possible to keep the pressure on him,” said Wawrinka, who next plays Spaniard Albert Montanes.

Ferrer looked on course for a straightforward win over Lapentti when he went 3-0 up in the first set.

In the end, though, it took him two hours 31 minutes to wear down the Ecuadorian.

Ferrer now meets Spanish sixth seed Tommy Robredo, who defied a second-set fightback by last year’s runner-up Guillermo Canas of Argentina to win 6-1, 7-5.

German Denis Gremelmayr came from 3-0 down to oust Russian Dmitry Tursunov 6-4, 6-0, setting up a match with Spaniard Nicolas Almagro, who wore down Croatian Mario Ancic 7-6, 6-2.

Thursday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Third round: 10-Nicolas Almagro (Spain) bt Mario Ancic (Croatia) 7-6 (7-5), 6-2; 1-Rafael Nadal (Spain) bt 16-Feliciano Lopez (Spain) 6-4, 6-3; Denis Gremelmayr (Germany) bt 15-Dmitry Tursunov (Russia) 6-4, 6-0; 6-Tommy Robredo (Spain) bt 9-Guillermo Canas (Argentina) 6-1, 7-5; 14-Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland) bt 3-David Nalbandian (Argentina) 6-3, 6-1; 2-David Ferrer (Spain) bt Nicolas Lapentti (Ecuador) 4-6, 6-4, 6-3; Juan Ignacio Chela (Argentina) bt Ernests Gulbis (Latvia) 2-6, 6-4, 6-3; Albert Montanes (Spain) bt Mikhail Kukushkin (Russia) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

SAFIN IN LAST EIGHT

MUNICH (Germany): Former world No 1 Marat Safin will face second seed Fernando Gonzalez in Friday’s quarter-finals of the Munich Open despite the Chilean suffering a second round scare.

Gonzalez recovered from losing the first set 6-1 against Belgium’s Kristof Vliegen to win the remaining sets 7-5, 6-3 in the second round tie.

With a host of top names pulling out of the event — including local heroes Tommy Haas and Philipp Kohlschreiber — the clay-court event has been shorn of big names.

Alongside Gonzalez, towering Russian Safin is one of the biggest names left in the tournament, but he had to dig deep to beat Germany’s Michael Berrer earlier in the day after the first two sets went to a tie-break.

Having slipped down the ATP rankings to 84th after a long injury break, Safin was given a wildcard entry by the Munich organisers, but is in the last eight after beating Berrer 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (5-7), 6-3.

It is a far cry from November 2000 when the 28-year-old was world No 1, but he will meet Gonzalez in the quarter-finals.

There was an upset on Thursday as qualifier Younes El Aynaoui from Morocco beat seventh seed Steve Darcis from Belgium 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals.

He will face Juan Martin Del Potro for a place in the semi-final after the Argentinian knocked out fourth-seed Russian Igor Andreev.

Having lost first set, Del Potro roared back for a 1-6, 6-0, 6-4 win.

In other quarter-finals, top seed Paul-Henri Mathieu will play Croatia’s Marin Cilic while South Korea’s Hyung-Taik Lee will meet Italian Simone Bolelli.

Results:

Second round: Juan Martin Del Potro (Argentina) bt 4-Igor Andreev (Russia) 1-6, 6-0, 6-4; 2-Fernando Gonzalez (Chile) bt Kristof Vliegen (Belgium) 1-6, 7-5, 6-3; Younes El Aynaoui (Morocco) bt 7-Steve Darcis (Belgium) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3; Marat Safin (Russia) bt Michael Berrer (Germany) 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (5-7), 6-3.—Agencies