Advertisement

Nadal cruises into Barcelona quarterfinals

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Top-ranked Rafael Nadal looked more like his confident self on the clay in passing Ivan Dodig of Croatia 6-3, 6-3, to reach the Barcelona Open quarterfinals on Thursday.

Nadal was struggling with his game coming into the event and an unconvincing opening victory on Wednesday did little to calm the nerves.

But Nadal looked more assured as he ousted the 37th-ranked Dodig in 83 minutes.

Nadal moves on to face fellow Spanish player Nicolas Almagro in an early rematch of last season's final, which Nadal won for his eight title at the tournament in the Catalan capital.

Earlier, Almagro beat Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 6-3.