Barcelona Open: Rafael Nadal ends Cam Norrie's run to reach semi-finals of clay-court event

Rafael Nadal stayed on course for his 12th Barcelona Open title after coming through in straight-sets against Britain's Cam Norrie to reach the semi-finals.

Norrie continued his fine 2021 by reaching the last eight of the event on the Catalan clay but found 11-time champion Nadal too hot to handle on the court named after him, the Spaniard winning 6-1 6-4.

The British No 2 had already reached the semi-finals of the Delray Beach Open and the quarter-finals in Acapulco this year and claimed the scalp of Karen Khachanov en route to the last-eight in Barcelona this week.

Reflecting on the match, Norrie said: "It was never going to be easy but I'm pretty disappointed with how I played today. I didn't really serve as well as I have all week and just lacked a little bit of execution, especially in the first set.

"I did an excellent job to get back in the match and fight like a dog to get to 4-4 but then I played another loose game. It's been a great week for me, I beat some good guys and to start my clay season like this is good.

"I'm serving really well, I got some good rhythm and it's good to find my feet on clay a little bit and start my clay season like this."

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Nadal has looked a little shaky on clay so far after not playing since the Australian Open and he again made more errors than he would have liked.

But ultimately he had too much on his shots for Norrie, who fought back from a break down in the second set only for Nadal to forge ahead again in their first career meeting.

He will face countryman Pablo Carreno Busta for a spot in the final after the world No 13 won the final five games to defeat Diego Schwartzman 6-4 3-6 7-5.

Norrie, 25, is continuing to climb the rankings and could be rewarded with a place in the top 50 on Monday.

"I went to the practice court to loosen up the arms," Nadal said. "The match was a little bit shorter today.

"I'm in the process of trying to improve and working hard daily to try to find the level that I want as soon as possible.

"I just wanted to pinpoint a few things after the match to work on. It's not the first time or the fifth time that I do this, I've (gone straight to the practice court) many times in the past.

"It's nothing new, I'm just trying to find the things that can help me be a little bit better tomorrow."

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Stefanos Tsitsipas beat Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-3 6-3 for the Greeks eighth straight-set victory in a row including his title run at the Monte Carlo Masters last week.

Tsitsipas will next face Jannik Sinner after the Italian teenager defeated Andrey Rublev 6-4 6-7 (4-7) 6-4.

At the Serbia Open, Novak Djokovic beat Miomir Kecmanovic 6-1 6-3 to set up a meeting with Aslan Karatsev, a 6-3 6-4 winner over Gianluca Mager.

Taro Daniel and Matteo Berrettini will contest the other semi-final.

In Germany, top-ranked Ashleigh Barty moved a step closer to her first Porsche Grand Prix title in Stuttgart as she came back from a break down in the deciding set to beat Karolina Pliskova 2-6 6-1 7-5.

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