Berdych Sets Quarter-final Clash With Nadal

© Getty ImagesNadal won 81 per cent of his first serve points against Lopez.

World No. 2 Rafael Nadal progressed to his sixth straight Australian Open quarter-final Sunday, defeating countryman Feliciano Lopez 6-4, 6-4, 6-2.

Nadal relied on another strong performance on serve, winning 81 per cent of his first service points after hitting 57 of 71 first serves in play. The second seed cracked 20 winners to 14 unforced errors to advance in two hours and 25 minutes. He improved to a 9-2 record against Lopez, and has won all five of their FedEx ATP Head 2 Head hard-court meetings.

"Today, especially on the deuce [side], I tried to serve with a lot of spin against the backhand of Feliciano, because if I serve faster against his forehand or fast against his backhand, for him sometimes it's easier to block the return," Nadal said. "With spin, I always have the first shot with my forehand, and I have the chance to control the point from there."

The 2009 champion, yet to drop a set through four matches, has lost serve just four times, while converting 23 breaks of serve against his opponents. "Sometimes in a few tournaments, I feel that I am improving day by day," said Nadal. "But this time I felt that the first day I played well, and the second [day], and two days ago [as well]. And today I played another complete match."

Nadal will aim to reach his first semi-final in three years when he takes on No. 7 seed Tomas Berdych. The Czech edged 10th seed Nicolas Almagro 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(3), 7-6(2) in three hours and 54 minutes to reach the final eight for the second year in a row.

Both players struggled to capitalise with their return games, combining to go just three for 18 when holding break point. Berdych hit 70 winners, including 28 aces, en route to defeating Almagro for the fifth time in seven meetings.

Berdych has a 3-10 record against Nadal and has lost their past nine encounters. His three wins against the Spaniard have all come on hard courts, most recently in Madrid in 2006 when the event was played indoors.

"I'm really happy to go through," said Berdych. "It was an extremely tough battle. We played four sets for almost four hours, and it was a great game I think from both of us. I'm really happy to go through to make the same result as last year, and now just try to get recovered from that and to be ready for Rafa. All the past nine matches I lost to him. So it would be nice to try to change it a little bit, but I know that it's gonna be really extremely tough."