Nalbandian Withdraws, Nadal Into Semifinals

Argentine David Nalbandian withdrew from the Barcelona tournament due to an acute inflammation of the right hip. It had been bothering the Argentine over the last couple of weeks, and he irritated the injury yesterday in his victory over Nicolas Almagro.

With this withdrawal, Rafael Nadal receives a walkover into the semifinals. The quarterfinal matchup was to be Nadal’s first big showdown of the tournament and a grudge match of their last meeting in Indian Wells. Nalbandian is one of the few people on tour with a winning record against Nadal. The Argentine still leads Nadal in their head-to-head matchup 2-1.