Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic through in Madrid
Friday 6 May 2016 10:04, UK
Rafael Nadal remained on course to make clay-court history with a straight-sets win over Sam Querrey at the Madrid Masters.
The Spaniard will set a new mark of 50 career titles on clay if he triumphs on Sunday, beating Guillermo Vilas' record, and recovered from a sluggish start to beat Querrey 6-4 6-2.
American Querrey led 3-0 in the opening set and had a point to go 5-2 ahead but Nadal - a winner in Monte Carlo and Barcelona - fought back to take it and found the second plainer sailing.
The fifth seed has not beaten beaten on clay in Europe this year and next takes on Portugal's Joao Sousa, with Andy Murray a potential semi-final opponent.
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Beyond that could lie a final against Novak Djokovic, and the world No 1 showed he is in the kind of form to deny Nadal history as he swatted aside Roberto Bautista Agut 6-2 6-1.
"After a long game at 2-2 in the first set, I managed to break his serve. It was a flawless performance after that, everything worked very well," said Djokovic, whose quarter-final opponent is Milos Raonic.
"Today the way I played gives me a lot of satisfaction. I'm just hoping I can continue playing this well tomorrow [Friday]."
