Shanghai, October 16, 2009

Rafa Nadal has extended his perfect record against Spanish compatriot Tommy Robredo to 5-0 at the Shanghai ATP Masters 1000 tournament last night. In the pair’s first meeting since the 2006 circuit climax in Shanghai, top seed Rafa defeated No. 14 seed and Davis Cup team mate 6-1, 6-4 in one hour and 34 minutes for a quarter-final clash against Croatian Ivan Ljubicic on Friday evening.

"I am playing well," said Rafa. "But I played two terrible games at the start of the second set so I have to improve in situations like this if I want to beat the top players."

Rafa is 2-1 against Ljubicic on hard courts and 2-0 on clay. His first hard-court win came in the form of a 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-3 decision at the 2005 Masters Series Miami and he prevailed later that fall 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(3) in a thrilling final of the Masters Series Madrid (then on indoor hard courts).

ORDER OF PLAY: The match is scheduled on Center Court not before 8pm (local time)

Vamos Rafa!