Nadal advances to Monte Carlo semifinals

Defending champion Rafael Nadal of Spain has managed to advance to the semifinals of the Monte Carlo Masters claycourt tournament. The Spanish star beat Ecuador's Nicolas Lapentti 6-3 6-0 in a match held over from Thursday due to torrential downpours. The four-time defending champion Nadal then defeated Croatian Ivan Ljubicic 6-3 6-3 later in the day to join the last four. "It was a tough day but (I got) two good wins without losing a set," Nadal said. "That is good news, the best news is I'm in the semi-finals. I'm very happy for that,” he added. "I played less than three hours, that's always important. The first match was not long and I was totally a hundred percent in the second." Meanwhile, fourth seed Andy Murray also stormed into the semifinals after he defeated Italian Fabio Fognini and then came back in the evening to battle past Russian eighth seed Nikolay Davydenko 7-6 6-4 on Friday. "It was a long day," said Murray. "I'm rather looking forward to getting to my bed. It was a long first set (77 minutes), but I played a good tiebreaker and I came back from 4-1 down in the second." The Scottish national Murray must now meet Nadal in the semifinal clash.