"I think I did a lot of things well" - Nadal confident following beatdown of Norrie

After struggling in his previous two matches, Rafael Nadal came out swinging against Cameron Norrie on Friday, overpowering the Brit to advance to the semifinals of the Barcelona Open.

The Spaniard required just 94 minutes to dispatch of his opponent, sending him packing with a 6-1 6-4 drubbing. The second seed was in better form that his last two matches, which saw him drop a set in each encounter. However, he dictated play with his forehand from the start, and his unseeded opponent never stood a chance.

“I played well at the beginning, especially in the first set. I think I did a lot of things well. Then I stopped myself a little bit. That's something that cannot happen, especially tomorrow in the semi-finals,” Nadal said after his match.

Prior to this year's event, the top seed had not dropped more than one set en route to his record eleven titles. He appeared more focused in this quarterfinal encounter, which turned out to be bad news for Norrie.

“I need to hold the level of intensity from the first set when I was able to change direction with my forehand and have most of the points under control." revealed Nadal. "Then the situation was a little bit different, so that's why I suffered later.”

The World No.3 will face Pablo Carreno Busta in an all Spanish affair, as the sixth seed overcame Diego Schwartzman in a tight three-set encounter. Nadal leads his compatriot 7-0 in career meetings, with the top seed prevailing in three sets in their most recent encounter at the Paris Masters last year.