Rafael Nadal of Spain extended his clay court winning record to 69 consecutive wins on Thursday when he scored a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Swede Thomas Johansson to reach the quarter-finals of the Barcelona Open.

The top seed, bidding to win the title in three successive years, lost only five points on his serve as he marched into the last eight.

"When I step on the court, I don't think about records," he said, "I just think about the match itself and the opponent because they deserve respect."

In the first set, it was the former Australian Open champion Johansson who beat himself with three double faults and a host of unforced errors.

The Swede did find his range on his serve, hitting five aces inthe second set where the Spaniard broke Johansson in the 10th gameto advance after 70 minutes.

Nadal now will play Potito Starace after the Italian upset eighth seed Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina 6-4 and 7-6.

Second seed Nikolay Davydenko scrambled into the last eight with a 7-6 (5), 7-6 (6) victory over unseeded Italian Filippo Volandri, in a match containing 10 breaks of serve.

He will play Argentine 12th seed Guillermo Canas, who beat Spanish qualifier Pablo Andujar 7-5, 6-3.

Fourth seed David Nalbandian eased past former French Open champion Carlos Moya 6-4, 6-3, and the Argentine will play fifth seed David Ferrer, who beat Serbian qualifier Boris Pashanski 6-2,7-5.

Last year's beaten finalist, third seed Tommy Robredo, was upset 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 by Argentine Agustin Calleri. The 15th seed will play unseeded Spaniard Oscar Hernandez, who ousted Finnish sixth seed Jarkko Nieminen 6-1, 6-7 and 6-3.

Editor: Donald