Nadal Wins, Ancic d Ljubicic at ATP Marseille

"I took the chances that I had and served very well when I needed to," Nadal said. "Physically I feel stronger and stronger so I think I'm on the right track."

Nadal converted only two of seven break chances, but stepped up his serve with eight aces.

Nadal will next face Arnaud Clement who won the all-unseeded, all-French meeting with Fabrice "The Magician" Santoro 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(5).

Clement won the 2 hour, 42 minute contest by recovering from a 2-4 deficit in the third.

"I wasn't far from my best tennis today," Clement said. "I'm happy with how aggressive I was and it's great to be in the semifinals here."

In the third career all-Croatian battle between the two, No. 6 seed Mario Ancic recorded his first win over No. 2 seed and compatriot Ivan Ljubicic 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-3 to reach the semis.

"I consider Ivan to be probably the best player, behind Federer, since the indoor season last year," Ancic said. "It's a great win and great for my confidence. I wasn't expecting to do this well this week, especially after practicing on clay all of last week in Austria."

Ljubicic converted on just one of five break points and threw down eight aces in the losing effort.

No. 8 seed Sebastien Grosjean also moved into the semis with a straight-set win over Russian lucky loser Evgeny Korolev.

Saturday's match-ups will be (1) Nadal vs. (WC) Clement (Spaniard leads career meetings 1-0, Davis Cup on clay in 2004), and (8) Grosjean vs. (6) Ancic (first meeting).