Nadal settles score with Russian Andreev in Hamburg

HAMBURG, May 17 (Reuters) Rafael Nadal settled an old score when he saw off Igor Andreev, the last man to beat him on clay, 6-4 6-1 to reach the quarter-finals of the Hamburg Masters today.

Nadal's latest victory took his winning streak on clay to 79 matches, dating back to a quarter-final defeat by Andreev in the Valencia Open in April 2005.

This was their first meeting on clay since then and, with the sun out and roof open, Nadal overcame a few early difficulties with Andreev's dynamite forehand to seize control.

He broke early in the first set and saved two break points on his own serve to consolidate. The second set was more one-sided, with the French Open champion taking it at a canter to complete victory in one hour 27 minutes.

Two other Spaniards joined Nadal in the last eight. Twelfth seed David Ferrer beat the seventh seeded Croatian Ivan Ljubicic 6-3 6-3 and Carlos Moya, a former French Open champion, recovered from a bad start to beat eighth seeded American James Blake 1-6 6-3 6-3 in an entertaining scrap.

World number one Roger Federer faces another Spanish clay court expert in Juan Carlos Ferrero in a later third-round match today.

Reuters SSC DB2020