MADRID, (Reuters) – Clay maestro Rafa Nadal was in  cruise control in the latest phase of his French Open build-up  while Robin Soderling, the man who ended the Spaniard’s Roland  Garros reign, crashed out of the Madrid Open yesterday.

World number three Nadal appeared to be eyeing his third Masters title on clay this season after dismissing Ukrainian qualifier Oleksandr Dolgopolov 6-4 6-3 in the second round.

His route to the final was made easier as well after  potential semi-final opponent Soderling, who snapped Nadal’s four-year hold of the French Open title in the fourth round last May, was beaten 6-4 7-5 by Nicolas Almagro of Spain.

Watched by Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo and former France captain Zinedine Zidane on an unseasonably-chilly Manolo Santana centre court, Nadal thrilled the noisy crowd with some fist-pump inducing winners.

The unorthodox Dolgopolov cracked some mighty winners of his own and mixed his game up with a few deft drop shots but never looked like mounting a consistent threat to the Spaniard’s dominance of the red dust.

The Ukrainian qualifier, 21, saved one match point on his  serve but on Nadal’s second his shot clipped the top of the net  and flew long to put the 23-year-old through to face American  John Isner in the last 16.

“He’s very unusual and very difficult to play against and I  helped him play well by playing the ball too short,” a  self-critical Nadal said at a news conference.

DANGEROUS PLAYER

Looking ahead to his match against Isner, who is more than  two metres tall and has a booming serve, Nadal said: “He’s one  of the most dangerous players on the Tour.