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 On that occasion, he routed yet another poor Spaniard, Fernando Verdasco, 6-1, 6-0, 6-2.
"I play better and better every match," Nadal said.
The going's about to get tougher. A potential final looms Sunday against No. 1-ranked Roger Federer, but first No. 2 Nadal must beat No. 3 Novak Djokovic in a semifinal widely anticipated since the draw was held nearly two weeks ago.
Nadal is 7-3 against Djokovic and 26-0 at Roland Garros.
"I don't want to go out there in the semis and just try my best," Djokovic said. "I want to win, and I think I have good quality and a good chance. Of course he's a favorite, and all the credit to that, but only with a positive attitude and approach in the match I can get the positive outcome."
The Australian Open champion, Djokovic is bidding for his second successive major title. He survived a serious challenge in the semifinals, beating precocious 19-year-old Ernests Gulbis 7-5, 7-6 (3), 7-5.
Djokovic has reached five consecutive Grand Slam semifinals, joining Federer, Ivan Lendl and Boris Becker as the only men to accomplish the feat in the 40-year Open era.
"He plays at a very high level," Nadal said, "but I also play well."
Against Almagro, Nadal lost the first game before winning nine in a row
-- his longest such streak since his previous match, when he swept 10 in a row. He finished with only nine unforced errors, an astounding total given the grind required on clay.
It was only the third time a man has lost fewer than four games in a Grand Slam quarterfinal in the Open era. The rout was especially striking because the No. 19-seeded Almagro is no pushover on clay, with a tour-high 29 victories on the surface this season.
Nadal denied the match was as stress-free as he made it appear.
"I have the same pressure like everybody," he said. "I feel nervous before the match always. The result was calm, but the feeling not."
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Nadal has lost 25 games through five rounds, the lowest total at that stage of a Grand Slam in the Open era.
"Impressive," Djokovic said. "He has been playing better and better."
That's saying a lot, considering Nadal is two victories from becoming the first man since Bjorn Borg in 1978-81 to win the clay-court major championship four consecutive times.
On the women's side, No. 2-seeded Ana Ivanovic and No. 3 Jelena Jankovic advanced and will meet in an all-Serb semifinal Thursday. Ivanovic beat Patty Schnyder 6-3, 6-2, and Jankovic defeated unseeded Carla Suarez Navarro by the same score.
With rain interrupting the schedule nearly every day, the backlog of matches pushed two women's quarterfinals to Wednesday. No. 7-seeded Elena Dementieva was to play No. 13 Dinara Safina, and No. 4 Svetlana Kuznetsova was to meet Kaia Kanepi, the first Estonian quarterfinalist at a major tournament.
On the men's side, Federer was to face No. 24 Fernando Gonzalez, and No. 5 David Ferrer was to meet unseeded Gael Monfils, the only French player remaining.
Gulbis showed his first Grand Slam quarterfinal berth was no fluke, displaying a mix of power and finesse that kept Djokovic off balance. The two practiced together as youngsters at a tennis academy in Munich, and when their latest hitting session ended, Djokovic gave Gulbis a friendly pat on the chest as both smiled.
Djokovic looked shaky early and failed to convert his first 11 break-point chances. He came through on the 12th to end the first set, then fell behind 3-1 in the second set before he began to strike the ball with his customary crispness and consistency.
"I tried to play a bit more patient and more safe in certain moments," Djokovic said. "But this is not going to be the case in the next match."
[Associated Press; By STEVEN WINE]
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