Rafa Nadal recovered from accidentally striking himself in the face with his racket to see off Spanish compatriot David Ferrer 4-6 7-6 6-0 in the Madrid Open quarter-finals yesterday.

World number four Ferrer, ranked one place above Nadal following the Majorcan’s seven-month layoff with a knee injury, showed why he is considered one of the most tenacious competitors on the circuit to take the first set of the last-eight clash at the clay Masters event.

Nadal clung on to edge the second-set tiebreak 7-3 and then switched up a gear in the decider to set up a semi-final meeting today against Spanish wildcard Pablo Andujar who beat Japanese 14th seed Kei Nishikori 6-3 7-5.

Nadal had a scare when leading 4-0 in the third when his racket bounced up off the court as he was stretching down to play a shot and struck him above the eye.

After a brief interruption he was able to continue and closed out the victory on his first match point when he broke Ferrer for a seventh time.

“It was a very tight match,” Nadal said.

“I think maybe David deserved more than me to be in the semi-finals but that’s sport for you,” the 26-year-old added.

“In the third set David dropped his intensity a bit and I didn’t have to do all that much.

“I was playing aggressively on my forehand and I am very pleased with how that is going, it’s working much better than in the events leading up to Madrid.”

Nadal has managed to avoid the fate of world no.1 Novak Djokovic, who was upset by unseeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov in the second round on Tuesday.

Other results: Women’s QFs – S. Williams bt Medina Garrigues 6-3 0-6 7-5; Ivanovic bt Kerber 6-3 6-1; Sharapova bt Kanepi 6-2 6-4; Errani bt Makarova 6-4 6-3.