Rafael Nadal reached yet another semi-finals of the Barcelona Open, after beating Martin Klizan in straight sets 6-0, 7-5. Despite the scoreline, Nadal had to fight hard in the second set, to deny Klizan an opportunity to level the match. Klizan wasted three opportunities to close out the second set at 5-4, which proved to be costly for him as Nadal broke back immediately.

Nadal described the match as a close one and pointed out that things are not as easy as people think out there. ‘What happens is that others want to win as well and playing well too’, Nadal elaborated.’It’s not easy, Martin was coming from five matches won here because of something, no one gave him anything until the quarter-finals. I played a good first set, but in the second set I started very flat and it influenced all the set.’

The Spaniard is looking to win his eleventh title here in Barcelona. However, he knows that that despite reaching the semi-finals, the destination is still far away. “He was a tough rival that I know he could give me problems but I won, it’s normal to go through some moment like this one. It was a complicated set but you have to go through these moments. I didn’t have a set like this since I returned from the injury, a such complicated one, but I went through i”, said Nadal.

Grigor Dimitrov and Dominic Thiem were knocked out in straight sets, which came as a pleasant surprise for the Spaniard. He said that this showed how difficult, competitive and complicated men’s tennis has become. ”It’s a great news. (Dominic) Thiem lost, (Grigor) Dimitrov lost… at the end of the day we all suffer, there are no easy matches and this tournament is the best example of how complicated everything is.” Rafa will face the fourth seed David Goffin in the semi-finals later today.