Nadal and Nishikori advance to the semi-finals of the Barcelona Open.

The top two seeds at the ATP 500 tournament in Spain advanced to the next round with easy victories in two sets.

Rafael Nadal completed his sweet revenge against Italian opponent Fabio Fognini, who eliminated him in the third round of last year's Barcelona Open. The Spaniard broke Fognini's serve twice to win the first set. Fognini put up a strong fight in the second set, forcing the two players to decide the winner in a tie-break. There, Nadal completely dominated to win 7-1 and close out the match.

Nadal has the opportunity to win the Barcelona Open for the ninth time. Photo: AFP.

Last year, Fognini had already inflicted another defeat on Nadal in the third round of the US Open. It was a five-set match, with Nadal losing after leading 2-0. But in this rematch, the number one seed gave his opponent no chance of a comeback. He won the match after one hour and 50 minutes.

In fact, Fognini nearly had a chance to turn the tide. He led 5-3 in the second set but failed to win the 10th game while serving. In the 12th game, Nadal led 40-0, but Fognini saved three match points, forcing the second set into a tie-break. However, the Spaniard prevailed in this tense tie-break. His next opponent will be Philipp Kohlschreiber.

In the other semi-final, second seed Kei Nishikori will face Frenchman Benoit Paire. Nishikori easily defeated Alexandr Dolgopolov 7-5, 6-0. The Japanese player won the Barcelona Open two years in a row in 2014 and 2015, but he is expected to face considerable difficulties if he wants to defend his title again, given Nadal's current high form.

According to VNE