Nadal savors 100th win in 101 outings on clay court

MADRID, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Rafael Nadal made his 100 wins in his last 101 matches on clay court by beating fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-4 and 6-3 on Thursday to reach the Barcelona Open quarter-finals.

The top seed, who is chasing his fourth consecutive title here, has his run of victories on clay dating back to his first Monte Carlo title in 2005. His only defeat on the surface since then was against world number one Roger Federer in the final of the Hamburg Masters last May.

"It's nice but I am more happy to be in the Barcelona quarter-finals," said Nadal, "It's one of my favourite tournaments. It was a difficult match with lots of long service games so I am happy to get through."

After missing three break-point chances at 1-1, Nadal broke serve in the fifth game. The world number two then broke twice more in the second set to line up a meeting with Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela, who beat Latvian Ernests Gulbis 2-6, 6-4 and 6-3.