BARCELONA: Rafael Nadal easily won his 23rd straight match on clay in beating Christophe Rochus of Belgium 6-2, 6-0 in the third round of the Barcelona Open on Thursday. The top-ranked Spaniard, who was looking to win a fifth straight Godo trophy, advanced directly to the semi-finals shortly after his win because quarter-final opponent David Nalbandian withdrew from the tournament with a right hip injury. “It’s not nice to reach the semi-finals like this but I have to think positively, to know that I’m in the semi-finals, which is good news, and I’ll be trying to give my all,” Nadal was quoted as saying by news agency Europa Press. Nadal, who has lost only three of his last 131 matches on clay, had 28 winners to Rochus’ seven. Seventh-seeded Nalbandian beat 10th-seeded Nicolas Almagro of Spain 6-3, 6-4, but that will be his last match here this year. Nadal will face either third-seeded Nikolay Davydenko or ninth-seeded Radek Stepanek. Davydenko ousted Feliciano Lopez 7-6 (8), 3-6, 6-4, while Stepanek beat Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka 6-4, 1-6, 7-5. Second-seeded Fernando Verdasco of Spain advanced after a hard-fought 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 victory over Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic in a match which lasted 2 hours ,17 minutes. Verdasco, who had not reached the quarterfinals in his five previous Barcelona Open appearances, will next meet Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez. Fifth-seeded Gonzalez beat unseeded Juan Monaco of Argentina 7-6 (6), 6-3. Two more Spanish players, fourth-seeded David Ferrer and sixth-seeded Tommy Robredo, will meet in the quarterfinals after both staged rallies. Ferrer beat Potito Starace of Italy 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 while Robredo defeated Igor Andreev of Russia 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. Robredo, the last man to win at Barcelona before Nadal’s run, broke Andreev three times and saved all five break points he faced.