Of the eight quarterfinalists in this Barcelona event mostly owned by Nadal, 5 were Spaniards.  This included Nadal, Ferrer, Ferrero, Almagro, and Lopez.  The other three were Gael Monfils, Jurgen Melzer, and Ivan Dodig.  Ivan who?  Yeah, basically.  Is Dodig a up-and-coming 19 year old ready to make a big splash?  No, not really.  He’s 25 years old, from Croatia, and is having one of the best week’s of his life.

Of the non-Spaniards, Melzer was ranked the highest, but he has had troubles beating Ferrer, and Ferrer had his number today as well, beating him 6-3, 6-3.

Monfils, who had not played in some two months, lost to Nadal handily 2 and 2.  Ferrero, who seems to disappear from tournaments, had a good week but couldn’t beat the younger Almagro and lost 3 and 3.

That left Dodig to beat the weakest of the Spaniards, Feliciano Lopez.  Dodig had already beaten Robin Soderling, Milos Raonic, and then Lopez in 3 sets.  Dodig will play top-seed, Rafael Nadal, and Almagro and Ferrer will play the other semifinals.  The likelihood is for another Nadal/Ferrer final although Almagro has the kind of power to bother anyone.