Nadal advances at Madrid Masters

Rafael Nadal blitzed France's Gael Monfils 6-1, 6-3 to join fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro in the Madrid Masters semi-finals and preserve his perfect clay court record this season. World No 3 Nadal, the 2005 champion here when it was played indoors, kept his clay record in 2010 at a spotless 13-0, with Masters 1000 titles at the only two tournaments he has completed so far, Monte Carlo and Rome.

"I think I started playing really well the first set, it was very high intensity," said Nadal. "In the second set the match got a little crazy."u00a0