Nadal wins 50th straight match on clay
Spaniard 3 away from record, is on track for another duel with Federer
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ROME - Rafael Nadal won his 50th straight match on clay Thursday, staying on track for another final showdown with Roger Federer.
Nadal beat British veteran Tim Henman 6-2, 6-2 to reach the quarterfinals of the Rome Masters and top-ranked Federer eliminated 14th-seeded Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-4.
Nadal has handed Federer his only two losses this year, in finals at Dubai and the Monte Carlo Masters last month.
Nadal can match Guillermo Vilas’ record 53-match winning streak on clay if he successfully defends his title here.
“Fifty is a lot of matches. But I’m just happy to be in the quarterfinals. Tomorrow I have a very difficult match,” Nadal said of his next match against 10th-seeded Fernando Gonzalez of Chile.
Gonzalez has won both of his previous meetings with Nadal, in 2003 and 2004.
“I remember those matches very well,” Nadal said. “I was very young.”
Third-ranked David Nalbandian and No. 5 Andy Roddick also advanced.
Nalbandian beat Alberto Martin of Spain 7-5, 6-4 for his eighth straight victory and Roddick knocked out British serve-and-volley specialist Greg Rusedski 7-6 (4), 6-2.
Henman, who’s ranking has dropped to a 10-year-low 70th, started the match well. He aced Nadal down the middle on the first point of his opening service game and held comfortably. A couple of games later, however, a double fault handed Nadal his first break point of the match, which the Spaniard promptly converted.
Henman picked his spots to serve and volley, and won only one three more service games.
The only moment of trouble for Federer, who required a second-set tiebreaker to eliminate Italian wild card Potito Starace on Wednesday, was when he fell behind 0-40 while serving for the match.
Federer hit a big first serve down the middle that Stepanek couldn’t return to get to 15-40. Stepanek then missed a forehand to conclude a long rally and Federer served an ace wide to reach deuce.
Federer forced Stepanek into two more errors and the match was over.
“I was very pleased with the way I played except in that last game on my own serve, but I managed,” Federer said.
He improved to 36-2 this season and 8-1 on clay, having only lost to Nadal.
Federer will next play 54th-ranked Nicolas Almagro of Spain. Almagro advanced when sixth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko retired with a left calf injury. Almagro won the first set 7-6 (6).
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Nalbandian won his first title of the year in Estoril last week. His win over Martin improved his season record on clay to 11-1.
Nalbandian will next face 15th-ranked Mario Ancic, who saved three match points before defeating Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo of Spain 6-3, 6-7 (4), 7-5.
Roddick’s match with Rusedski started off more like a grass-court encounter than a clay-court battle.
Both players held serve throughout the first set and Roddick only took control when Rusedski just missed a backhand volley, giving the American a 6-4 lead in the tiebreaker.
Roddick then hit a big first serve that Rusedski returned long to close out the set. He stormed through the second set in just 29 minutes.
Roddick improved to 6-1 in his career against Rusedski, having won their last six meetings.
The Rome Masters is an important clay-court tuneup for the French Open, which begins May 28.
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