ROME, Italy (Reuters) -- Rafael Nadal swept towards a third consecutive Rome Masters title, beating fifth seed Novak Djokovic 6-2 6-3 in the quarterfinals on Friday.
The world number two, whose victory took his winning streak on clay to 75 matches, went through to a semifinal against fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko, who beat Tommy Robredo 1-6 6-3 6-3 in an earlier match.
In the other half of the draw, wild card Filippo Volandri swept past 12th-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych 6-2 6-3 to become the first Italian player to reach the last four since Adriano Panatta in 1978.
Volandri will next face the winner of the later quarterfinal between sixth seed Fernando Gonzalez and Juan Ignacio Chela.
Djokovic had beaten Nadal on the way to winning the Miami Masters in April. That result, along with the 19-year-old Serb's victory at last week's claycourt event in Estoril, had raised expectations he might pull off an upset.
Instead, Nadal dominated the early stages of the match, bludgeoning Djokovic with heavy groundstrokes to break in the opening game of the match.
Djokovic saved seven break points in his next two service games but when Nadal whipped a crosscourt winner past him to create another break point in the seventh game he cracked, putting a drop-volley into the tramlines to go 5-2 down.
Typical aplomb
Nadal served out for the first set with typical aplomb. Midway through the game he looped a crosscourt pass on to the baseline with Djokovic stranded at the net.
Djokovic walked slowly back, looked at the mark the ball had made on the baseline and crossed himself.
The intensity of the contest dipped slightly at the start of the second set as errors crept into both players' games but a pair of long forehands in the seventh game gave Nadal a crucial break.
In the ninth game Djokovic netted a routine volley and a backhand to lose serve again and with it the match.
World number 53 Volandri had caused the shock of the tournament by beating Roger Federer in the last 16.
He kept up his momentum against Berdych, losing just five points on his serve on the way to a comfortable victory.
"This win was just as important as yesterday's. Berdych might not be Federer but he's still an excellent player," Volandri said.
"I played another perfect match today -- another fairly easy win. I feel really solid, really confident at the moment."
Copyright 2007 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The world number two, whose victory took his winning streak on clay to 75 matches, went through to a semifinal against fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko, who beat Tommy Robredo 1-6 6-3 6-3 in an earlier match.
In the other half of the draw, wild card Filippo Volandri swept past 12th-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych 6-2 6-3 to become the first Italian player to reach the last four since Adriano Panatta in 1978.
Volandri will next face the winner of the later quarterfinal between sixth seed Fernando Gonzalez and Juan Ignacio Chela.
Djokovic had beaten Nadal on the way to winning the Miami Masters in April. That result, along with the 19-year-old Serb's victory at last week's claycourt event in Estoril, had raised expectations he might pull off an upset.
Instead, Nadal dominated the early stages of the match, bludgeoning Djokovic with heavy groundstrokes to break in the opening game of the match.
Djokovic saved seven break points in his next two service games but when Nadal whipped a crosscourt winner past him to create another break point in the seventh game he cracked, putting a drop-volley into the tramlines to go 5-2 down.
Typical aplomb
Nadal served out for the first set with typical aplomb. Midway through the game he looped a crosscourt pass on to the baseline with Djokovic stranded at the net.
Djokovic walked slowly back, looked at the mark the ball had made on the baseline and crossed himself.
The intensity of the contest dipped slightly at the start of the second set as errors crept into both players' games but a pair of long forehands in the seventh game gave Nadal a crucial break.
In the ninth game Djokovic netted a routine volley and a backhand to lose serve again and with it the match.
World number 53 Volandri had caused the shock of the tournament by beating Roger Federer in the last 16.
He kept up his momentum against Berdych, losing just five points on his serve on the way to a comfortable victory.
"This win was just as important as yesterday's. Berdych might not be Federer but he's still an excellent player," Volandri said.
"I played another perfect match today -- another fairly easy win. I feel really solid, really confident at the moment."
Copyright 2007 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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