Rafael Nadal was given a free passage into the semi-finals of the Barcelona Open thanks to a David Nalbandian injury.

The world number one breezed into the last eight today with a 6-2 6-0 victory over Christophe Rochus and then discovered he had been given a walkover.

Nalbandian would have fancied his chances of upsetting Nadal having beaten the brilliant Spaniard twice in their three meetings but, after defeating Nicolas Almagro 6-3 6-4 today, the seventh seed was forced to withdraw from the tournament.

The four top seeds are still in the competition but Fernando Verdasco, Nikolay Davydenko and David Ferrer all survived tough examinations today.

Second seed Verdasco was twice a set and a break up against Tomas Berdych but the big-hitting Czech bounced back to level before succumbing to a single break in the decider as Verdasco triumphed 7-5 5-7 6-4.

The Spaniard will face Chilean fifth seed Fernando Gonzalez in the last eight after he came through 7-6 (8/6) 6-3 against Juan Monaco.

Davydenko, seeded third, scrapped his way to a 7-6 (10/8) 3-6 6-4 victory over another Spaniard, Feliciano Lopez, while Ferrer came back from a set down for a 4-6 7-5 6-2 win over Potito Starace.

Radek Stepanek caused the only slight upset of the day when he defeated eighth seed Stanislas Wawrinka, who beat Roger Federer in Monte-Carlo last week, 6-4 1-6 7-5.

Stepanek will take on Davydenko next while Ferrer faces an all-Spanish quarter-final against 2004 champion Tommy Robredo, who battled past Igor Andreev 4-6 6-2 6-3.