Albert Ramos-Vinolas

Ramos-Vinolas beat the world No 1 on Murray's return from an elbow injury in the third round of the Monte Carlo Masters last week, and he looked poised for a repeat.

But Ramos-Vinolas missed a chance to serve for the match and it was Murray who came through 2-6 6-4 7-6 (7-4) in a little under three hours.

In the semi-finals he will face fourth seed Dominic Thiem, who will be looking for a third British scalp of the week after knocking out Kyle Edmund and Dan Evans.

The Spaniard had little trouble against his fellow countryman in defending the title he reclaimed last year after a three-year gap from his eight-year run of consecutive titles.

Ramos-Vinolas had already beaten world number one Andy Murray and Marin Cilic on route to his fourth career final but the world No 24 never looked close to a second singles title.

Instead it was Nadal who won a 50th title on clay taking him clear of Guillermo Vilas as the most successful man on the surface and the first man to ever win 10 titles at the same venue.