In the other half Japanese second seed Kei Nishikori, bidding to defend the title, beat Alexandr Dolgopolov in straight sets and will play unpredictable Frenchman Benoit Paire for a place in the final.
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Paire fought to save four match points in the final game but went down to defeat on Nishikori’s fifth with a volley error.
What’s at stake: Nishikori stressed he entered the tournament with a goal of nothing less than a three-time crown in Barcelona.
In the second round, Italy’s Vinci will play 2011 Stuttgart champion Goerges, who outfoxed France’s Alize Cornet 6-4, 6-0 in just one hour and 16 minutes.
The two players to have dominated the Barcelona Open in recent years, Rafael Nadal and Kei Nishikori, will meet in the final of this year’s tournament after securing straight-sets semi-final triumphs.
Nishikori took an early lead at 3-2 after Paire risked a drop shot that fell into the net to cede his second service game.
At the second attempt, Nadal broke for 4-3, held, and then broke again courtesy of three pounding forehands, 6-3.
Eight-time champion in Barcelona Rafael Nadal is aiming to exact revenge on his conqueror from a year ago Fabio Fognini in their quarter-final later on Friday.
However, Nadal will have to end Nishikori’s hot-streak of 14 consecutive wins in Barcelona as he swept aside French sixth seed Paire 6-3, 6-2.
The 2011 champion Julia Goerges lost 6-3, 6-4 against Italian six seed Roberta Vinci, and wildcard Anna-Lena Friedsam was sent packing 6-2, 6-2 by Spanish seven seed Carla Suarez Navarro. After going 2-1 up with a break, Chardy immediately broke back but Nishikori did likewise to go 3-2 up. “It’s always hard to play against another German, who you know so well”, said Kerber, who played alongside Beck in Germany’s Fed Cup play-off win over Romania last weekend.
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“This year things are a little different, I am accepting every situation and I don’t have the feeling of being constantly nervous”.
