Rafael Nadal stepped up his game another notch on home clay yesterday as the eight-time Barcelona Open champion won a rerun of a contest played almost a decade and a half ago.
The top seed, who is aiming for another title record only days after winning his ninth trophy in Monte Carlo, defeated Spanish veteran Albert Montanes 6-2, 6-2 in the third round.
Second seed Kei Nishikori, champion at the last two editions, twice lost leads in the second set but rediscovered his game on both occasions in a 6-3, 7-5 defeat of Frenchman Jeremy Chardy.
Nadal’s match brought back memories from 2002, when the then-16-year-old qualifier ranked 261, faced - and beat - the top-seeded Montanes at a Challenger event on the courts of the Real Club de Tenis.
Over the past 14 years, the earth has shifted, with Nadal now ranked fifth and still the king of clay while the 35-year-old Montanes has made the inevitable slide down the ATP list to currently stand 104.
Nadal took 63 minutes to advance to the quarter-finals of the tournament, which he once dominated but has not won since 2013.
“I started off very well, and it felt really good. I’m happy about the victory and very happy about the way I played today.” Nadal said.  “I hit my forehand great today.
“Conditions were much better than yesterday,” he added after a contest played under cloudy skies but without a strong wind, which bothered players on Wednesday.
He now faces a grudge battle with quirky Italian Fabio Fognini, who upset him in the third round a year ago.
Fognini, the 12th seed, booked is last-eight place with a defeat of Viktor Troicki 6-3, 6-2, with the Serbian taking injury treatment late in the match on the way to defeat.
“Tomorrow will be a tough match against Fognini, he beat me three times last year and it was an up and down against him.” Nadal said.
Play began late after a morning of rain which eventually cleared to allow the clay to be prepared.
Nadal finished off Montanes, a Barcelona semi-finalist a dozen years ago, with 24 winners while breaking five times. Montanes was playing his 33rd match at the event, where he stands 18-15.
The Nadal win took his record to 45-3 at his home event as he claimed his sixth victory without a loss over Montanes.
Nishikori said he felt rushed in his preparation after the programme was compacted due to the weather delay.
Nevertheless, the Japanese ace managed to get the job done in less than 90 minutes with 29 winners, while Chardy fell victim to nearly 30 unforced errors.
“I felt a little bit slower and heavier, but I’m glad to win in two sets,” Nishikori, a finalist last month in Miami, said. “I knew it would be a tough match and the last few games were a struggle.
“Hopefully I can play good again tomorrow.”  French sixth seed Benoit Paire beat number nine Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay 6-2, 6-4 while Malek Jaziri defeated Alexander Zverev 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 a day after the German turned 19.

Kvitova advances
Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova saved three match points yesterday as she fought her way into the Porsche Grand Prix quarter-finals, while fourth seed Simona Halep crashed out.
The fifth seeded Czech Kvitova prevailed 2-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 over Monica Niculescu, saving the match points in the 12th game of the second set.
World number 6 Halep went out in her first match after a bye, losing 6-1, 6-2 against German qualifier Laura Siegemund, seemingly not fully recovered from an ankle problem she suffered on the weekend Romania’s Fed Cup relegation tie against Germany.
Two other Germans meanwhile were not as lucky as Siegemund in other second-round action at their home event.
The 2011 champion Julia Goerges lost 6-3, 6-4 against Italian six seed Roberta Vinci, and wildcard Anna-Lena Friedsam was sent packing 6-2, 6-2 by Spanish seven seed Carla Suarez Navarro.
Top seed Agnieszka Radwanska was to open her campaign after a bye later Thursday against another German, Andrea Petkovic.
Kvitova got a little help from the net cord as she survived the three match points after squandering a 5-2 lead in the second set against Niculescu who had breezed through the first.
She won the ensuing tiebreak to lock the sets and never looked back after breaking in the opening game of the third, clinching victory in 2 hours 42 minutes when Niculescu netted a groundstroke.
“I was very close to being out of the tournament but now I am still here. I played a terrible first set but then told myself to be calmer,” Kvitova said.
Niculescu, who is a difficult opponent because she plays a forehand slice, beat Kvitova earlier in the year in the Fed Cup. Thursday’s defeat came four days after the Romanian also wasted match points against Petkovic, which decided the Fed Cup relegation tie in Cluj.
“I was thinking too much, yes. Because with Petkovic I had two match points and I was thinking now, play different, play better,” Niculescu admitted.
Siegemund raced off to 5-0 and took the opening set two games later.  Halep seemed a little bothered by her ankle and then took a medical timeout after 2-0 up in the second. But she never got on the scoreboard again as the 71st-ranked Siegemund cruised to a big win.
“I am still in a zone. I found my game right away and was aggressive.
She was ailing a bit but I didn’t let her play,” Siegemund said.
Siegemund almost quit tennis a few years ago and only returned for good full time after completing a bachelor’s degree in psychology last year.
“I wanted to discover other things but I also rediscovered my tennis,” the 28-year-old said.