Rafael Nadal romped to his 35th consecutive victory at the Monte Carlo Masters to seal his place in the semi-finals of the claycourt event.

The Spaniard, who has won the Masters title six years in a row, powered past Croatian veteran Ivan Ljubicic 6-1 6-3 to set up a semi-final showdown with either Andy Murray or Frederico Gil.
The first three games all went against serve but Nadal restored order in the fourth and took it with a fantastic forehand passing shot after chasing down a lob to the backhand corner of his baseline.
He continued to dominate the Ljubicic serve with a break to love and repeated the dose to take the set 6-1. By that point Ljubicic had won just 12 per cent of first serve points, two of 17 - including an ace.
Nadal swiftly went 2-0 up in the second set, however Ljubic wasted two guilt-edge opportunities to break back in the fourth game.
Ljubicic's catalogue of errors continued when he left a return which landed comfortably in but he dug in to hold again.
The Croatian won five straight points and brought up two break points with Nadal serving for the match but wasted the first with an ambitious drop-shot attempt as the six-time defending champion closed out yet another victory.
(Source: Skysports)