Nadal turns the tide to beat Chela

BARCELONA, Spain -- Rafael Nadal came from 4-2 down in the first set to outplay Argentine Juan Chela 6-4 6-2 on his way to the semifinals of the Barcelona Open.

The match swung in a titanic seventh game which lasted 20 minutes. Nadal, who had suffered an early break, put in a determined effort and although Chela staved off three break points during a run of eight deuces, he capitulated by netting a backhand.

From that point Nadal took charge, clinching the set after 64 minutes and breaking Chela in the opening game of the second set as he moved smoothly to victory.

"When Chela had points for 5-2, it was tough," said Nadal. "But it was more manageable at 3-4 instead."

Nadal has now won 101 of his last 102 clay matches, last losing in the Hamburg final a year ago to Roger Federer.

In Saturday's semifinal he will play German Denis Gremelmayr, who followed his upset triumph over fourth seed James Blake by beating 10th seeded Spaniard Nicolas Almagro 6-2 3-6 7-6, clinching the deciding tiebreaker 9-7.

"I'm just glad to be in my fourth straight semi here. I'd like to win the tournament again, but I have a semifinal to play first," said Nadal.

"It was a tough match all around and I had to work hard. I just want to do my best to win again."

Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka beat Spain's Albert Montanes 6-3 6-7 6-4 and will face second seed David Ferrer, who ousted number six Tommy Robredo 7-6 6-4.

Wawrinka took almost three hours to struggle past Montanes, ranked 87, despite leading 5-2 and holding match point in the second set.

"I needed to play very aggressive," said Wawrinka. "I had to take chances as he's such a good clay player.

"I should have closed it out in two sets, but I couldn't capitalize on all of my chances."

Younes El Aynaoui of Morocco became the oldest semifinalist on the ATP Tour in 15 years, by defeating Juan Martin Del Potro 6-4 6-4 at the BMW Open in MUnich.

At 36 years, seventh months, El Aynaoui became the oldest semifinalist on the tour since Jimmy Connors played in San Francisco in 1993 at 40 years, five months.

El Aynaoui will play second-seeded Fernando Gonzalez, who defeated Marat Safin 6-3 7-5. Gonzalez won the last three games before a rain shower interrupted play at the tournament.

Top-seeded Paul-Henri Mathieu defeated eight-seeded Marin Cilic 6-2 4-6 6-3 to set up a semifinal against Simone Bolelli, a 6-4 7-6 winner over Lee Hyung-taik.

El Aynaoui, ranked 295th, won the Munich tournament in 2002 but had to qualify this year. It's his first semifinal since October 2003. E-mail to a friend