Nadal demolishes Tipsarevic

Nadal turned in a below-par performance in seeing off Colombian wildcard Robert Farah on Thursday but on Friday looked much more like the player who is on a 32-match winning streak at his home club in the Catalan capital.

The world number two will next take on compatriot Fernando Verdaso, who progressed after opponent Kei Nishikori retired at 4-2 down in the opening set.

The Spaniard raced 4-0 up in the first set with two breaks as Tipsarevic struggled to find an answer to his serve.

The Serbian world number eight managed to secure two holds as he sought form for the second set, and should have added a break.

However he threw away all three of his chances as Nadal took five straight points to close out the set.

The momentum remained with him as he took a love game to break at the start of the second set, but he was broken back for 2-2.

His response was clinical: three games in a row – two of them on the Tipsarevic serve – saw him serving for the set, and he secured the hold to win.

He cracked consecutive aces to seal victory against the eighth-ranked Tipsarevic and told Spanish television he had been especially pleased with his performance in the first set.

"I think two 6-2 sets against the world number eight is a fantastic result," added the 25-year-old French Open champion.

"Tomorrow I am in the semi-finals and I'll have to play at my best to have a chance so let's see what happens."