World no. 1 Rafael Nadal made it to the quarterfinals of the Barcelona Open after defeating his fellow countryman, the Serbian player David Ferrer by 6-3 and 6-3.
Nadal earlier this week suffered a shocking exist from the Monte Carlo Masters by the hands of Fabio Fogini but with the Wednesday win over Leonardo Mayer on Wednesday he set his match with his fellow countryman.
Both Spanish players were facing off each other for the 32nd and most probably the last time as Ferrer has decided to retire from the sport after his next appearance at the Madrid Masters.
Ferrer’s last win against Nadal was back in the Monte Carlo masters of 2014 but the top seeded Nadal had his eyes set on winning the tournament as he extended his in streak of Barcelona Open to 17 wins in a row.
Nadal said, “This match was very impotent for me as I had a tough match agsint Mayer yesterday. Today I took a step forward and played with a lot of energy.”
Ferrer who left the court as he received the standing ovation from the crowd, said, “I am very happy to finish this tournament by being o n the centre court and to play agsint Nadal. I gave it my all in this match.”
On the other hand, the 2-time champion of the tournament, Kei Nishikori managed to also advance to the last eight of the event after defeating the 18 years old Canadian player Felix Auger Aliassime by 6-1 and 6-3 in 1 hour and 24 minutes.
In other matches, the third seeded Dominic Thiem gained a 7-5 and 6-1 victory over Spanish player Juame Munar.
With this win, this is the third time in a row for Thiem to have made it into the quarterfinals of the Barcelona Open.
Lastly seventh seeded Daniil Medvedev also managed to secure his 23rd ATP Tour title win for 2019 after defeating his American opponent Mackenzie McDonald by 6-3 and 6-2. He will now face the lucky loser of the event Nicolas Jarry for a spot in the semi finals.
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