MONACO — Top-ranked Rafael Nadal stretched his winning streak at the Monte Carlo Masters to 25 matches, beating Ivan Ljubicic 6-3, 6-3 Friday in his second match of the day.

Nadal moved one step closer to his fifth straight final in Monaco.

After beating Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador 6-3, 6-0 in a rain-delayed third-round match, Nadal showed few signs of fatigue in winning his 19th straight match on clay to reach the semifinals.

"I don't remember ever winning two singles matches in one day, only doubles," Nadal said.

He clinched the match when Ljubicic tried to end a short rally with a backhand winner that went long.

The Spaniard has won the last four Monte Carlo titles and gone on to capture the French Open each time. His last defeat on clay was in the second round of the Rome Masters in May.

Nadal next plays the winner of the match between fourth-seeded Andy Murray and No. 8 Nikolay Davydenko.

Also, third-seeded Novak Djokovic reached the semifinals for the second consecutive year by beating No. 7 Fernando Verdasco of Spain 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.

Djokovic broke Verdasco, the Australian Open semifinalist, in the sixth game of the deciding set and closed out the match on serve.

"I could have finished the job in two sets, but then he came back," said Djokovic, adding that heavy rain from Thursday made for tricky conditions on the clay. "The courts were really wet. The balls were getting bald and really fast. It was tough to control."

Djokovic, who reached the semifinals of the French Open last year, will meet No. 13 Stanislas Wawrinka in the semifinal. Wawrinka, who upset No. 2 Roger Federer on Thursday, defeated German qualifier Andreas Beck 6-2, 6-4.

"Djokovic has played very well during this tournament," Wawrinka said. "He has a very good backhand."

Wawrinka has lost five of his seven previous meetings with Djokovic, including the last four. He lost to Djokovic in the Rome Masters final last year on clay, and recently on hard courts at Indian Wells, Calif.

"I'm very pleased to play against him again, this time on clay," Wawrinka said. "I think it's going to be a very physical match. I know he likes to be very aggressive."

Beck saved two match points with aces but double-faulted on the third to give Wawrinka the win, and only his second semifinal in a Masters series.

Nadal's match had been suspended Thursday because of heavy rain, with Lapentti up 1-0 in the first set.

Ljubicic started his day by beating Simone Bolelli of Italy 7-5, 7-6 (2), while Murray overcame a poor start to beat Fabio Fognini of Italy 7-6 (11), 6-4 to reach a quarterfinal on clay for the first time in his career.

The match was split over two days after rain halted Thursday's play at the start of the second set with Murray leading 1-0 and Fognini serving at 40-40.

Davydenko beat No. 12 David Nalbandian of Argentina 6-4, 5-7, 6-3.