Rafael Nadal beat Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-4, 6-2 in the quarterfinals of the Monte Carlo Masters Friday to extend his winning run at the tournament to 30 matches and stay on course for his sixth straight title. He remains on course to again meet top-seeded Novak Djokovic in the final, after beating the Serb last year. “To be in the semifinals is a very good start to the clay season,” said Nadal, who is still chasing his first title of the year. “The result against one of the tougher opponents right now on clay is (a) good one.” Although Nadal was disappointed with a “couple (of) mistakes” on his backhand, he felt happy with his overall play. Djokovic produced his best tennis of the tournament to dispatch David Nalbandian 6-2, 6-3, breaking the Argentine's serve five times. He plays No. 6 Fernando Verdasco, who beat Albert Montanes 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-0 in an all-Spanish match. Verdasco looked certain to cruise to victory after leading 5-1 in the second set, but Montanes clawed his way back. Verdasco, however, regained his composure and raced through the deciding set, sealing victory on serve when Montanes hit a forehand wide. Djokovic took a lighthearted approach at being the only non-Spaniard left in the tournament. “If I'm representing the rest of the world, then it must be a big responsibility,” he said. “It's not a surprise if there are so many Spanish in the quarterfinals or semifinals. They're growing up on this surface.” Djokovic served fluently throughout and was consistent on both first and second serve, and called his performance “one of the best matches I've played in 2010.” His ability to mix it up thwarted Nalbandian's strokeplay and disrupted his rhythm. Second-seeded Nadal had dropped only two games in his previous two matches, but this time the ninth-seeded Ferrero - the Monte Carlo Masters champion in 2002 and ‘03 - did at least provide some testing moments for the Spaniard. Nadal next meets David Ferrer in another all-Spanish match, having beaten Ferrer recently at the Sony Ericsson Open in straight sets. Ferrer earlier beat Philipp Kohlschreiber 7-5, 7-6 (1). Nadal leads Ferrer 9-3 since Ferrer won their first meeting, on clay, six years ago in Stuttgart, Germany. Wozniacki in semis In South Carolina, top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki advanced to the semifinals of the Family Circle Cup with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Nadia Petrova. Earlier Friday, the tournament's second seed was eliminated when Daniela Hantuchova upset Jelena Jankovic 1-6, 6-3, 6-3. In Saturday's semifinal, Wozniacki will meet the winner of the match between Vera Zvonareva and Melanie Oudin of the United States. The second-ranked Dane won last week at Ponte Verde Beach in Florida. Hantuchova next plays Samantha Stosur of Australia, who beat Peng Shuai of China 6-4, 6-1. Vinci-Schiavone final In Spain, defending champion Roberta Vinci beat Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania Friday to line up an all-Italian final against top-seeded Francesca Schiavone in the Barcelona Ladies Open. Vinci rallied to take the match 6-7 (4), 6-1, 6-2 while Schiavone cruised to a straight sets win against Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan, 6-1, 6-2. Vinci's win means the unseeded Italian has made it 9-0 in her career at this $220,000 WTA Tour event on outdoor clay at the David Lloyd Club Turo.
