Rafael Nadal clinched his 50th successive victory on clay here on Thursday with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Britain's Tim Henman to reach the Rome Masters quarter-finals as he closed in on Guillermo Vilas's all-time record on the surface.
If Nadal successfully defends his title here on Sunday, he will equal the record set by Argentine Vilas who managed 53 straight wins on clay in 1977.
But if the French Open champion is to reach that landmark, it is likely he will have to overcome world number one Roger Federer after the Swiss top seed reached the quarter-finals with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Radek Stepanek.
The world number one, who has reached the final of the last five ATP Masters Series events in which he has played and won four of them, took just 56 minutes to beat the Czech 14th seed.
Nadal eased past the veteran Henman to make the last eight.
He broke to lead 3-1 in the first set and again in the eighth game of the one-sided encounter.
Any hope Henman had of staging a comeback was dashed in the fourth game of the second set when Nadal unleashed two sweet passing shots which left the Briton struggling.
The Spaniard wrapped up the third round clash with a smash at the net to set up a last eight match-up against big-hitting number ten seed Fernando Gonzalez of Chile who put out Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-4.
Federer, who lost to Nadal in Monte Carlo last month, had to fight back from 40-0 down when 5-4 ahead in the second set before clinching victory against the dogged Stepanek.
He next faces Spanish qualifier Nicolas Almagro who went through after Russian sixth seed Nikolay Davydenko was forced to retire with injury in their clash.
Federer, still missing the French Open from his Grand Slam collection, was delighted with an almost flawless first set in which he made just two unforced errors. "That was really pleasing," said the 24-year-old Swiss, who made 35 unforced errors in his straight sets win over Potito Starace on Wednesday.
In the same half of the draw, Argentinian fourth seed David Nalbandian defeated Spanish qualifier Alberto Martin 7-5, 6-4 for a place in the last eight. Nalbandian, whose win at Estoril last week was his first ATP title of the year and elevated him to a career-high third place in the world rankings, next faces Croatian Mario Ancic.
Unseeded Ancic fought back from 5-1 down in the deciding set to beat Spain's Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo 6-3, 6-7 (4/7), 7-5. Ancic was suffering from a back strain in the third set, for which he had to call the physiotherapist to the court, but the Croatian star battled back and even saved three match points.
Number five seed Andy Roddick put an end to Greg Rusedski's run with a 7-6 (7/4), 6-2 win.
The American was in particular serving much better than he had in his previous two rounds - above 60 percent on the first serve in terms of consistency, with over 80 percent of first serve points won.
Briton Rusedski, more comfortable on hard courts and grass, tried to mix up his game by coming to the net when he could.
In the tie-break, he messed up a key point at the net, after which Roddick gained the upper hand.
Rusedski was broken twice in the second set, and has now lost to Roddick six times in a row.
Roddick will next play Gael Monfils who put out French compatriot Fabrice Santoro.
FRIDAY'S RESULT: (x denotes seed):
QUARTER-FINALS: David Nalbandian (ARG x4) bt Mario Ancic (CRO) 6-3, 6-3.
THURSDAY'S COLLATED RESULTS:
THIRD ROUND: Roger Federer (SUI x1) bt Radek Stepanek (CZE x14) 6-1, 6-4; David Nalbandian (ARG x4) bt Alberto Martin (ESP) 7-5, 6-4; Mario Ancic (CRO) bt Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo (ESP) 6-3, 6-7 (4/7), 7-5; Fernando Gonzalez (CHI x10) bt Tomas Berdych (CZE) 6-2, 6-4; Andy Roddick (USA x5) bt Greg Rusedski (GBR) 7-6 (7/4), 6-2; Nicolas Almagro (ESP) bt Nikolay Davydenko (RUS x6) 7-6 (8/6) - retired; Gael Monfils (FRA) bt Fabrice Santoro (FRA) 7-6 (9/7), 6-2; Rafael Nadal (ESP x2) bt Tim Henman (GBR) 6-2, 6-2.
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