Nadal, Nishikori advance at Barcelona Open

Nadal has to build on the momentum from Monte Carlo. If he does prove that he's getting closer to his previous form, then the upcoming French Open is going to be very interesting.

Watched a couple of sets from Nadal's SF against Murray and the Final against Monfils last week, but he wasn't really nailing his service games. Obviously he fought through as he does to win, but they weren't dominant performances.

"Two-time champion" Nishikori is similar in that his service isn't the strongest part of his game.

Fingers crossed that they end up fighting it out in the final and putting on a show.

Just hope both Rafi and Kei has extra reserves left in their tanks for the French Open. A warm-up comp is just exactly that but sometimes players gets to focus on the adrenaline and push themselves a bit too hard. I reckon the pros reaching the semi's regularly can pace their performances in matches to the letter. Than again I'm just speculating here :)