What a difference a set makes. Facing James Blake in the quarterfinals of the Sony Ericsson Open Wednesday, Rafa Nadal found his switch at the beginning of the second set and turned it on to finish off the ninth-ranked Blake and punch his ticket to the semifinals.

Rafa, who lost his first three career matches against the American, made it two straight against Blake, also topping him in the quarterfinals of Indian Wells last week. “I think we play very tough matches, both at Indian Wells and here. He started playing so aggressive, and I didn’t have many chances in the beginning.” Rafa said.

“So later I won a very important point. One 15-30 with one long volley (I won) with a backhand. That changed the match a little. And later I had the break in the 4-3. That was the turn of the match.”

With the point came a lion’s roar from Rafa, and a 3-6 first set characterized by sluggish play gave way to a second and third set in which the Spaniard allowed Blake only one more game.Rafa finished out the final two sets 6-3, 6-1.

“I felt like I wasn’t volleying very well, and I wasn’t attacking that much. I got a little too passive and let him dictate play,” Blake said. “Today I felt like towards the end of the match I was playing much, much too passive, and that’s frustrating.”

Rafa will face the winner of the Nikolay Davydenko and Janko Tipsarevic quarterfinal matchup, which will take place Thursday at 1 p.m.