Wind ensures chore for Nadal
Wind ensures chore for Nadal 
From correspondents in Barcelona
Former Australian Captain April 28, 2007
RAFAEL Nadal struggled with a swirling wind and a tenacious opponent, but held on for his 70th straight clay court win to reach the semi-finals of the Barcelona Open overnight.
The world No.2 finally overcame Italy’s persistent Potito Starace 6-2 7-5 in the quarter-final, setring up a semi-final with No.5 seed David Ferrer, after his compatriot’s 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 defeat of Argentina’s 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.
Winner in the last two years at the Real club here, Nadal didn’t panic, breaking No.72 Starace straight back and assuring the survival of his all-time mark a game later after 1hr 24min.
Nadal, who made 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 has won 11 clay court finals in which he has appeared since a quarter-final loss to Igor Andreev in Valencia two years ago, and 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, No.2 seed, Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko fell victim to an over-aggressive massage and was unable to play his quarter-final with No.12 seed Argentina’s 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,” he 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 on hardcourt, will face compatriot Agustin Calleri who defeated Spain’s Oscar Hernandez 6-0 6-3.
Agence France-Presse