Rafael Nadal stormed into his second major clay final in as many weeks on Saturday with a 6-3, 6-2 dismantling of Nickolay Davyenko at the Barcelona Open. Nadal, winner over Novak Djokovic for a fifth straight trophy at Monte Carlo last weekend, now stands one victory away from five on the trot in the Catalan capital.
Out to stop him Sunday will be the winner from Saturday's second semi-final between Chile's Fernando Gonzalez and 2008 finalist David Ferrer of Spain. Nadal continues to dominate at the closest event the man from Mallorca has to a home tournament. The world number one had claimed his last 24 matches at the Real club, his only defeat coming in 2003 as a teenager against Alex Corretja. Nadal stands an ATP-best 32-3 on the season with trophys at the Australian Open and Indian Wells in addition to Monte Carlo.
His victory over Davydenko came after the Spanish powerhouse had a free ride into the semi-finals as Argentine David Nalbandian withdrew a day before their quarter-final with a hip injury. Nadal now stands 4-2 against third-seeded Davydenko, winning all three of their clay meetings and recovering from a defeat the Russian inflicted last autumn indoors at Paris Bercy.
Nadal broke Davydenko midway through the long opening set, then moved to 4-1 in the second as the Russian's pair of recent long matches to reach the final four perhaps began to take a toll. Nadal closed with his fifth break of Davydenko to advance in 1hr 48min.