Buenos Aires, Feb 28 (EFE).- Spain’s Rafael Nadal played at his highest level to rout Argentine Federico Delbonis 6-1, 6-1 and advance to the semifinals of the Argentina Open in Buenos Aires.

The top seed at this clay-court event needed just an hour and two minutes to defeat his 59th-ranked opponent on Friday night, using his full arsenal of shots and striking the ball with power, heavy spin and accuracy in dominating the match from start to finish.

“As a Spaniard, I want to say it’s very emotional to win in a friendly country like Argentina. This is a crowd that appreciates tennis and (on Saturday) I’m going to try to reach my first final of the year,” Nadal said after his win.

The world No. 4, who struggled with a wrist ailment and also suffered from a bout of appendicitis in the latter half of the 2014 season, lost in the quarterfinals of last month’s Australian Open to Czech Tomas Berdych.

The 14-time Grand Slam champion played a clay-court event last week in Rio de Janeiro but was upset in the semifinals by Italy’s Fabio Fognini.

Next up for Nadal in the Buenos Aires semifinals will be another Argentine, 74th-ranked Carlos Berlocq, who cruised past Slovenia’s Blaz Rola 6-1, 6-3 on Friday.

Saturday’s other semifinal will pit Spain’s Nicolas Almagro against Argentine Juan Monaco.

If Nadal can win two more matches in Buenos Aires, he will tie Argentine former great Guillermo Vilas’ Open Era record of 46 career ATP clay-court singles titles. EFE