Good friends they may be off the court, but a rampant Nadal showed no mercy to a player nine years his senior, burying the 1998 champion under an avalanche of topspin.

The 21-year-old has not lost a set during these championships and is on course to emulate Bjorn Borg's three consecutive French Open titles in 1980.

Moya, the oldest player of the eight quarter-finalists, cut a forlorn figure long before yet another brutal Nadal forehand ended the contest on his second match point just past the two-hour mark.

"The match was better for me than it was for him, that's for sure," said Nadal who faces Serbian Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals.

"I'm very happy because I'm playing better here than last year."

For Moya, who once presented a 12-year-old Nadal with trophy at a junior tournament, it was a chastening experience.

"I didn't play my best tennis today. I could not play my game at all," Moya told reporters. "He was playing very deep, very high. It bounces with such spin that it's difficult to attack him.

"I don't see too many players who can take a set off him. Of course Federer is one and Djokovic. I don't know if (Djokovic) can beat him but he has a chance."

Moya fought gallantly early on to stay in touch, mixing up his game with some clever angles in a bid to negate Nadal's forehand. Nadal struck first, however, a dipping drive forcing Moya to fumble a volley into the net.

It was all square quickly as Moya hit back to break the Nadal serve after seizing on a poor drop shot.

At that stage the centre court crowd's wish for a real battle between the two Spaniards seemed a possibility but Moya surrendered his serve tamely in the next game and Nadal made no mistakes to close out the first set.

Moya's last real chance came at 1-0 in the second set when he earned two break points. On both occasions his brittle backhand was found wanting as Nadal kicked serves out wide.

A double fault gifted Nadal a break in the next and although Moya held serve to trail 4-3 in the second set, Nadal changed up a gear to roar through the last eight games. SOURCE: © 2007 Australian Broadcasting Corporation