Nadal beats Lopez in Spanish battle in Melbourne

Jan 22, 2012, 4:52 GMT

Melbourne - Rafael Nadal continued his friendly stranglehold on Spanish compatriot Feliciano Lopez inflicting a 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 thrashing on his friend to reach another quarter-final at the Australian Open on Sunday.

Second seed Nadal worked for two and a half hours to earn the victory and maintained his record of never losing a set on hardcourt to Lopez over four career matches. The six-time French Open winner owns their overall series 9-2.

Nadal will play in his sixth consecutive Melbourne quarter-final against the winner from Spain's Nicolas Almagro and Czech seventh seed Tomas Berdych.

'It was a very hot day so it was very positive to win in straight sets,' said Nadal, the 2009 champion. 'Feliciano is a good friend of mine, we both tried our best.

'Last year he beat me at Queen's. But we both know that at the end of the day it's just a game. I did what I had to do to win in straight sets.'

Nadal advanced with four aces 20 winners and 14 unforced errors, breaking his opponent on five of 18 chances.

In women's fourth round play, third seed Victoria Azarenka defeated Czech Iveta Benesova 6-2, 6-2 while Polish eighth seed Agnieszka Radwanska crushed German Julia Goerges 6-1, 6-1.

Azarenka, who came to Melborne after winning the Sydney title, said her confidence is booming.

'I think I'm in the best shape physically right now, so it kind of helps other aspects of the game. I feel pretty good out there.

'I feel like I can play there as long as I need to play, I'm there on every point.'