Rafael Nadal plays close friend Feliciano Lopez on Sunday for a place in the Australian Open quarter-finals.
It's all been pretty easy for Nadal so far which will have been a relief to his team. The second seed has expended the minimum of energy necessary to progress to the second week. If he had been able to pick his draw through to this stage, Nadal could hardly have chosen a better one.
"I am playing well. If you are playing well, things can be a little bit less difficult. If you are playing bad, every match will be very, very difficult, no?" Nadal told the press, never one to refrain from stating the obvious.
"I did well. I played both matches, three matches at very good level. Today (against Lukas Lacko was one of the best, solid, without mistakes, comfortable with the serve, having good return. Nothing is easy. Everything is difficult. Every match you have your problems. But I played solid all the match, so that's why the result."
Nadal is 8-2 up on the head-to-head against Lopez with the only losses coming on the grass of Queens and on the fast indoor carpet of Basel. On slower surfaces Nadal's movement gives him a huge edge and he's won their last three matches pretty comfortably.
Not only that but Lopez will still be recovering from his epic third round win over John Isner, battling past the American 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-7(0), 6-1.
Prediction: Nadal in three.
