BARCELONA: World No. 1 Rafa Nadal crushed Gael Monfils of France 6-2, 6-2 Friday to charge into the Barcelona Open semifinals. Nadal is chasing a sixth title in seven years in the Catalan capital and next meets unseeded Ivan Dodig after the Croatian beat Feliciano Lopez 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 to prevent an all-Spanish last four. After a rain-delayed start, the top seed raced into a first-set lead with his brutal forehands helping secure two breaks of serve. Nadal, whose electric yellow shirt contrasted sharply with the dull conditions, broke the seventh seed again early in the second, helped by a wonderful angled drop shot as the two exchanged blows at the net. “To win 6-2, 6-2 is a very positive result and was much better than I expected. I'm very pleased,” Nadal told Spanish television. “I won in Monte Carlo last week and now to be in the semifinals in Barcelona is super positive. I couldn't have started the clay season any better, now I have to keep on working,” he said. Nadal has stormed through the field so far this year, losing just 10 games in three matches. He owns eight wins from nine meetings with Monfils, the seventh seed who was playing in only his second event since a wrist injury forced him out in February. Nadal improved to 28-1 in Barcelona as he was untroubled by Monfils on a grey cloudy day after morning rain which produced the heavy clay conditions so favored by Nadal. The Spaniard never faced a break point in the one-way contest while breaking Monfils four times. Fourth seed David Ferrer is on course for another showdown with Nadal, the player he was beaten by in the Monte Carlo Masters final last weekend, after sweeping past Austria's Juergen Melzer 6-3, 6-3. In the day's last quarterfinal eighth seed Almagro, who will break into the world's top 10 Monday, ousted fellow Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-3, 6-3. Safina in last four In Morocco, former No. 1 Dinara Safina overcame fellow Russian Anastasia Pivovarova 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 in a match featuring 18 breaks of serve to reach the semifinals of the Grand Prix SAR Friday. Safina reached her first semifinal since the Cincinnati Open in Aug. 2009. She dropped her own serve nine times against Pivovarova in a topsy-turvy match stretching over nearly 3½ hours because of rain stoppages. Safina managed to wrap up the win quickly after the players came back out after rain with the scores tied at 4-4 and 0-15 on Safina's serve in the decider. The 24-year-old Safina missed three months last year because of a back injury, and had to retire during the first set of her quarterfinal at the Andalucia Tennis Experience earlier this month with lower back pains. Although Friday's win will doubtless boost her confidence, Safina looked far from at ease. She lost all three of her service games in the second set, allowing Pivovarova to level the match after she held her own wobbly serve. Safina won only 45 percent of points on her first serve in the match, while Pivovarova fared little better with 53, and even worse on her second serve with 20 percent to Safina's 35. Safina next plays Italy's Alberta Brianti, who reached her first semifinal of the season after beating Melanie Oudin of the United States 7-5, 5-7, 6-0. Earlier, seventh-seeded Simona Halep of Romania beat Greta Arn of Hungary 6-2, 6-1 to reach the last four. She next faces Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium, who took just 45 minutes to beat local favorite Nadia Lalami 6-0, 6-1.
