Nadal surprises himself

"For sure, it's always a surprise to continue playing like this," the 20-year-old Nadal said after beating Serbian starlet Novak Djokovic 6-2 6-3 to reach the Rome Masters semi-finals.

"The truth right now is that I'm playing very, very good and I'm very happy with my play."

The dominant victory over Djokovic, the 19-year-old world number five, helped Nadal to equal McEnroes' 75-match win streak, which the American achieved on indoor-carpet from September 1983 to April 1985.

"The guy seems like he's unbeatable right now," said the American McEnroe, who watched the match courtside at the Foro Italico.

Nadal said the comprehensive win was one of his best-ever performances.

"It was a very, very good match, one of the best matches of my career I think," Rafa said. "I played a very complete game, very complete match. I played very good with the forehand, with the backhand, serving good in important moments."

"Djokovic is a very, very good player and he served very good."

Nadal will now attempt to break McEnroe's mark when he faces Russian Nikolay Davydenko in the Rome semi-finals.

The Majorcan had nothing but praise for the world number four, who fought back to beat Spain's Tommy Robredo 1-6 6-3 6-3 in the quarter-finals.

"He's playing unbelievably, I saw his match today against Robredo was a very, very good match, he's playing with very good rhythm."

Pleased at his success in Rome after a series of disappointing performances, Dayvenko did not seem to relish his chances against the Spaniard, who has not lost a match on clay in more than two years.

"Nadal, I don't know, maybe he is an animal, like he never tires," the Russian joked. "We'll see."