Rafael Nadal beats Great Britain's Cameron Norrie to ease into the last four of the Barcelona Open

ByPaul Hassall

Updated 23/04/2021 at 17:15 GMT

Rafael Nadal comfortably defeated Great Britain's Cameron Norrie by a 6-1 6-4 scoreline to ease into the semi-finals at the Barcelona Open. The 13-time Roland Garros champion will now meet Pablo Carreno Busta or Diego Schwartzman in the last four. The winner of that encounter will face either Stefanos Tsitsipas or Jannik Sinner in the final.

Rafael Nadal surged into the semi finals of the ATP 500 Barcelona Open with a routine straight sets victory over Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie.

The Spaniard, who is targeting a record-extending 12th title at the event, looked back to his red-dirt best as he comprehensively took care of the world number 58 with a 6-1 6-4 success.

Nadal’s lack of match action since the Australian Open saw him surprisingly beaten by Andrey Rublev in Monte-Carlo and he had to fight hard to claim three-set wins over qualifier Ilya Ivashka and Kei Nishikori coming into this last eight encounter in his homeland. It was the first time Nadal has ever been pushed to back-to-back three-set matches in Catalonia leading some to question his form heading towards his favourite Grand Slam tournament in Paris.

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However, Norrie never looked like upsetting the 13-time Roland Garros champion as Nadal sauntered to a first-set breadstick before edging a much more competitive second set.

Norrie actually broke back in the eighth game of Set 2 after Nadal had stolen an early march, but the top seed immediately responded with a break to love before serving out the contest.

Nadal will now meet Pablo Carreno Busta or Diego Schwartzman in the last four while the in-form Stefanos Tsitsipas will lock horns with Jannik Sinner in the other semi-final.

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