By Richard Pagliaro | Thursday, May 14, 2015

John Isner seemed to have Rafael Nadal right where he wanted him: Stretched out and on the run behind the baseline.

Nadal responded to his predicament with an astonishing answer.

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Curling a running forehand pass down the line to break serve for the second time, Nadal's forehand strike caused the ballistic-serving American to shake his head at what he'd just seen.

The seven-time Rome champion unleashed some timely passes and precise returns downsizing Isner, 6-4, 6-4, to reach the quarterfinals for the 10th time in 11 appearances in the Eternal City.

It was Nadal's sixth victory over the 6-foot-10 American in as many meetings. Four of his six wins have come on clay.

Aiming for a 10th trip to the final, Nadal will play either No. 8 seed Stan Wawrinka or 21-year-old Dominic Thiem for a semifinal spot.

After playing one of the poorest clay-court finals of his career against Andy Murray in Madrid on Sunday, Nadal made a statement in the opening game.

Ripping a running forehand down the line followed by a short-angled backhand pass, he earned triple break point. Isner was up to the task, reeling off eight consecutive points on serve for a 2-1 advantage.

Facing Murray in the higher altitude of Madrid, Nadal left several returns short in the court, lacked the length on his backhand, even bouncing one two-hander into the net, and paid the price. Today, he hit through his returns with much more conviction and depth, winning 12 of 17 points played on Isner's second serve.

Bending low for a backhand, the fourth-seeded Spaniard used Isner's pace against him, knocking a pass down the line for double break point. He needed only one, crunching an inside-out forehand to break for 3-2, snapping Isner's streak of 86 consecutive service holds.

It was a disconcerting case of deja vu for Isner, who last surrendered serve in the fourth game of the third set in his Monte-Carlo loss to Nadal on April 16.

Zapping another inside-out forehand to seal the 34-minute opener, Nadal completed one of his most confident sets of this clay-court season. He served 70 percent, won all 17 of his first serve points and permitted only four points on serve, three of them on double faults.

Leading 2-1 in the second set, Isner reached 30-all on Nadal's serve, but launched a forehand beyond the baseline howling "No!" at the transgression. When a desperation lob hit the top of the tape and dribbled over Nadal was on it and pushed a forehand winner holding for 2-2.

It's tough find too much fault with Isner's tactics today. He can't keep pace with the nine-time Roland Garros champion in running rallies and knew he had to fire his forehand to try to move Nadal and close the net whenever possible. Though he hit a few fine drop volleys, Isner's execution at a couple of critical times cost him.

Trying to avoid Nadal's forehand, Isner approached crosscourt only to see Nadal slash a backhand pass for break point in the ninth game. That set up his running forehand to break. Uncle Toni, who had been pretty stoic behind a pair of Nike shades for much of the match, popped out of his seat in excitement at the shot.

When Nadal served for the match, Isner made a final stand.

The world No. 17 hit a stretching stab volley to open the game and was in prime position at net on the next point, but bungled a backhand volley wide and dropped his racquet like a man burned by its touch. At 30-all, Isner cracked an inside-out forehand narrowly missing the mark for match point. Nadal wrapped up an impressive win in 80 minutes. He served 76 percent and dropped only four points on his first serve.