Barcelona Open: Defending champion Rafael Nadal enjoys Friday double shift

Rafael Nadal made light work of having to play twice in Barcelona on Friday, sweeping past Benoit Paire and Albert Ramos to reach the semi-finals.

Nadal beat Frenchman Paire 7-6 (7/2) 6-2 in a last-16 match that had been delayed due to rain the previous day before returning to the court to take on fellow Spaniard Ramos.

The world number five, bidding for his third straight Barcelona Open title and eighth in nine years, took a tight opening set off Ramos courtesy of a single service break.
And Nadal raced through the second set without losing another game to complete a 6-3 6-0 win and a satisfactory day's work.

"I got through a complicated day fine," he said. "I played much better in the second match than in the morning. Above all in the second set, when Albert made more mistakes than usual."
Raonic next

Nadal will play fifth seed Milos Raonic in the last four after the Canadan also notched two victories on Friday.

Raonic beat Latvian Ernests Gulbis 6-2 7-6 (8/6) and then came from a set down to take care of Tommy Robredo 6-7 (5/7) 6-3 7-6 (7/2) in their quarter-final.

Robredo had knocked out third seed Tomas Berdych 3-6 7-6 (7/5) 6-3 in his third-round match earlier in the day.

Fourth seed Nicolas Almagro will take on eighth seed Philipp Kohlschreiber in the other semi-final.

German Kohlschreiber beat 11th seed Martin Klizan 1-6 7-6 (7/2) 7-6 (7/5) before benefiting from a walkover in his quarter-final when 16th seed Thomaz Bellucci withdrew.

Almagro saw off seventh seed Juan Monaco 6-3 7-5.