Good friends and Davis Cup teammates Rafa Nadal and Carlos Moya play each other for the eighth time on Friday in the quarterfinals.

Rafa Snd Carlos have a long history together. They are both from the small island of Mallorca; Rafa essentially grew up under the tutelage of Moya. It is fitting somehow that they meet again at the very tournament where the student first beat the master.

In 2003, Rafa was sixteen years old, a relative unknown and ranked eighty-seven in the world; Carlos Moya was ranked four and was a former Roland Garros champion. Rafa beat him in straight sets.Now, of course, it is a different story. Rafa is considered one of the great clay courters of all time at not quite twenty-two years of age.

He already has two clay titles to his name this year, winning in Monte Carlo and Barcelona and proved in his match against Andy Murray on Thursday that his form is as good as ever. He beat the Scotsman 6-3, 6-2 in a superb display of tennis.

Carlos reaches his first quarterfinal since Costa do Sauipe in February. He comes into the match with a win against Rafa on clay in 2003 as well as an epic match against each other in the Chennai semi-finals, in which Rafa squeaked the win in a third set tie-breaker.

In one of the match-ups of the third round, Andy Murray will try to solve the puzzle that is Rafa Nadal on clay.

Andy Murray 's best clay result so far came in Monte Carlo, where he reached the third round, but got crushed 6-4, 6-0 later by Novak Djokovic. The Scot's tendency to revert to a passive game has been his downfall so far, but regardless of that he should still be concidered a contender and will be an interesting match up for Rafa.

Rafa's second round match again Potito Starace was not as easy as he probably would have expected, but there was nothing to suggest that Murray has any kind of advantage because of Rafa's problem on his foot.

Expect Rafa to yank Murray around the baseline with his killer forehand and on the same note, expect Murray to drop shot Rafa. The problem for Andy is that Rafa is a very smart player and will be expecting a full on battle on his turf...the only place where he feels right at home.

Historic Hamburg is home of Germany’s biggest tennis event of the season in May, the AM Rothenbaum Tennis Masters Series.

The tournament again features a stellar lineup of the game’s best players including defending champion Roger Federer, clay superstar Rafa Nadal and the surging Rome victor Novak Djokovic.

The tournament marks the last chance before the French Open for the players to determine their seedings at Roland Garros. Also in action in Hamburg are Nikolay Dayvdenko, James Blake, Andy Murray, David Ferrer and Richard Gasquet.

In 2007, Rafa was denied a historic sweep of the clay ATP Masters Series titles as Federer won his fourth Hamburg title, 2-6, 6-2, 6-0... But that's in the past now, Rafa is determined not to let it happen again.

"The motivation will be there for me as soon as I enter the stadium," Rafael told the Sunday edition of Die Welt. "I will always remember losing the 2007 final, because on the one hand the defeat stopped me profiting from winning the title and also my run of wins on clay was broken.

"But I must say, I have a good memory of the tournament from a year ago: I lost in the final against the best player of all time."

Although Federer and Nadal have dominated the men's game for nearly three years, Rafa insists 2008 Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic, who won last week's Rome Masters Series, is the player to watch in Hamburg.

"He is playing very well at the moment," said Rafa. We knew already he could become a great player"

Rafa suffered only his second defeat in 105 matches on clay when he lost 7-5, 6-1 to Juan Carlos Ferrero in the second round in Rome last week. He was seeking his fourth successive title in Rome, but struggled with a foot blister as a result of the overcrowded schedule.

With the addition to this year's calendar of the Olympic Games in August, the clay-court schedule has been squeezed in so close that it's left Rafa and other players playing consecutive weeks in Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Rome and this week in Hamburg.

Rafa will open up his 2008 Hamburg campaign this Wednesday against either Potito Starace or Luis Horna.

Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be in Rome.

Yesterday afternooon Rafa lost for the first time ever in the Rome Master Series as he was beaten 7-5, 6-1 in the second round of the tournament by Juan Carlos Ferrero. It was his first defeat on clay since losing the Hamburg final to Roger Federer, just under a year ago.

Rafa, bidding for his fourth straight title in Rome, was clearly hampered by blisters on his right foot in the second set and former world number one Ferrero showed a ruthless streak in dismissing the second seed.

It was Ferrero's first win on clay against Rafa and only his second victory in eight meetings, avenging a defeat by an almost identical score at Monte Carlo last month.

"It's a very important win for me, it feels very special and I've not felt this special for a long time," said Ferrero....I've won a special match. I was so strong mentally. I had things clear in my mind and I did them."

Rafa on his side felt that "Today I didn't play my best tennis and the truth is that I didn't feel very good on court," he said. "I couldn't plant my legs on the floor with power and every time I was playing the ball short because I couldn't play it long because of this pain. It was tough for me."

Rafa Nadal begins his quest for his fourth consecutive Rome title on Wednesday against fellow Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero. Rafa has already won titles in Monte Carlo and Barcelona in 2008.

Rafa Nadal vs Juan Carlos Ferrero

Number two seed and clay court master Rafa will clash with friend and countryman Juan Carlos Ferrero. Rafa has lost just a single match to Ferrero back in 2006 on the hard courts of Cincinnati. Their most recent match was just two weeks ago in the third round of Monte Carlo. Nadal won in straight sets.

Rafael comes into the Rome tournament with a staggering 103-1 record on clay. He won a fourth consecutive title in Barcelona on Sunday over another Spaniard, David Ferrer. He also won a fourth Monte Carlo crown two weeks ago over Roger Federer. Ferrero has not had a fantastic spring clay court season thus far. In addition to the third round loss he suffered to Nadal in Monte Carlo, he also lost to Marat Safin in the first round of Valencia.

Though Rafa has played a great deal of tennis leading into this tournament, he is the overwhelming favorite. His movement on clay is unparalleled in the men's game and his big lefty forehand with heavy topspin on dirt is one of the most effective shots in tennis. Ferrero is now considered a veteran, and where he used to be considered one of the best movers, he seems to have lost a bit of his spryness. Nadal in two. for the eighth time on Wednesday.

Rafa Nadal relinquished a set but ultimately claimed a comfortable victory over David Ferrer in the final of the Seat Open in Barcelona on Sunday.

The world number two won his 21st consecutive match to claim the title for the fourth year in succession, beating his fellow Spaniard 6-1 4-6 6-1.

Rafa set the tone for the match by breaking his opponent in the first game, and although second seed Ferrer finally held serve for 4-1 Nadal eventually broke again to win the set.

To Ferrer's credit, he hit back strongly in the next - breaking the clay-court expert twice while Nadal could only break back once as Ferrer leveled the match, taking a set off Nadal for the first time in 26 in Barcelona.

But the champion regained control in the decider as Ferrer basked in his brief glory, Rafa claiming a break of serve in the second game and adding two more later on to take the win. "I'm very happy," said Rafa. "The first set I played very well, almost perfect, but he was very strong in the second set and I am just very happy to have won here again."

Rafa now moves on to Rome on Monday for another Masters event, one that he has also won for the last three years.

Rafa Nadal and David Ferrer have guaranteed that a Spaniard will triumph for a sixth straight year in Sunday's Barcelona Open final after both leading seeds Saturday reached the title match.

Rafa stormed to victory in 51 minutes on Saturday, crushing the life out of German underdog Denis Gremelmayr 6-1, 6-0 in a haze of shotmaking and controlled aggression. Ferrer, seeded second, needed almost two hours to get past persistent Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka, 14, Switzerland, 7-6 (10-8), 6-3.

"Today I tried to be focussed," said Rafa, 20-1 at the Real club and winner of the last three editions. "Even with a big lead I didn't want to lose concentration. "I wanted to prepare well for the match tomorrow. I knew Gremelmayr had a good clay season so I went onto the court with a lot of respect. "I only concentrated on focusing and playing my game."

Rafa, by contrast, achieved another day of near-perfection on his home clay as he won his 20th match at the venue where he suffered his only loss as a teenager in 2003 against Alex Corretja. The top seed claimed 50 of the 65 points, leaving the scraps to the outclassed German.

Rafa is aiming to defend all four of the clay honours he collected last spring and stands one-for-one after Monte Carlo. He also won Barcelona, Rome and Paris in 2007, while losing the Hamburg final to Federer in a 6-0 final set.

Gremelmayr's only successful moment came as he held serve on his first try; then it was all over as Nadal put on a master class.

Ferrer will be bidding for his second trophy of the season and sixth overall after winning Valencia last month.

Rafa holds a 5-3 led over his compatriot, whom he beat last week in the Monte Carlo quarter-finals on the way to a fourth consecutive title in the principality.

Rafa Nadal continued his march towards the Barcelona title with a 6-4 6-2 quarter-final victory over Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela.

The World number two - bidding to win the title for the fourth successive time, struggled early on in slipping behind 4-2 but roared back to clinch the match. Chela broke the Nadal serve to love to lead 4-2 but the match effectively hinged on an epic seventh game.

Chela had five chances to extend his lead to 5-2 but Rafa found his form, taking his third break-point chance to get back on terms.

He broke again two games later before serving out the set and after breaking the Argentine in the first game of the second set, it was all one-way traffic from there.

The Spanish top seed has now won his last 101 of 102 matches on clay - his sole defeat to Roger Federer in last year's Hamburg final.

But he admitted: "If it had gone to 5-2 it would have been very difficult to win the first set.

"But getting back to 4-3 gave me a lot of confidence and I am very happy to be in the semi-finals for the fourth year in a row."

Rafa's semi-final on Saturday will be against German surprise packet Denis Gremelmayr, who followed up his victory over fourth seed James Blake with a 6-2 3-6 7-6 defeat of tenth-seeded Spaniard Nicolas Almagro.

"I'm just glad to be in my fourth straight semi here. I'd like to win the tournament again, but I have a semi-final to play first," Nadal added.

"It was a tough match all around and I had to work hard. I just want to do my best to win again."

Rafa Nadal took his remarkable record to 100 wins in his last 101 matches on clay by beating fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-4 6-3 on Thursday to reach the Barcelona Open quarter-finals.

The top seed, chasing his fourth consecutive title here, appeared unaffected by strapping on his left shoulder as he eased through.

Rafa's run of victories on clay dates back to his first Monte Carlo title in 2005, with his only defeat on the surface in that time coming 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 in a courtside interview. "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 6-3.

Rafa Nadal continued his storming spring on the clay, opening as holder at the Barcelona Open today with a 6-4 6-2 second-round defeat of Potito Starace.

The popular victory at the Real club over the Italian ranked 45th, left Rafa with an enviable 99 wins out of his last 100 clay matches since winning his first Monte Carlos title in 2005.

The treble Roland Garros winner is aiming to duplicate his performance last weekend in the principality, where he claimed his fourth straight at the venue, against Roger Federer.

Spain's Mallorcan tennis hero fought with the persistent Starace in the first set before breaking open the match at 3-1 on his way to victory in 78 minutes with four breaks of serve.

The world number two next faces 16th-seeded compatriot Feliciano Lopez, a winner of fellow Spaniard Alberto Martin 3-6 6-2 6-4.

Rafa nudged ahead of Nikolay Davydenko with 28 match wins this season to 27 for the Russianand hasn't lost a match in Barca since 2003 against Alex Corretja in the second round. Since then he's beaten Juan Carlos Ferrero, Tommy Robredo and Guillermo Canas in the past three finals.