INQUIRER Sports

NEW YORK?Spanish tennis goes from strength to strength with a record six players from the country qualified for the last 16 at the US Open.

Five of that number are in the top half of the draw and four are clustered into one quarter, the first time this has happened in New York since Jimmy Connors led a US quartet in 1981.

That ensures that at least one Spaniard will make it through to the semi-finals.

Top seed Rafel Nadal, seeking his first US Open title, leads the way and he will go up against close friend Feliciano Lopez, while eighth seed Fernando Verdasco takes on 10th seed David Ferrer in a matchup which has all the hallmarks of a marathon.

It was these four players that won the Davis Cup for Spain last year.

Veteran Tommy Robredo is among those through to the last 16 in the second quarter and the sole Spanish survivor in the bottom half of the draw is Albert Montanes.

The Spanish charge in New York has taken some by surprise, but the players involved say there is nothing unusual about it.

"What can I say about Spanish tennis? It's always there," said Lopez, whose serve-and-volley tendencies stand in sharp contrast to the baseline fixations that mark the rest of the Spanish contingent.

"And since 15, 20 years ago, we are winning almost everything, no? Before we were the best on clay. Now we win on grass, on everywhere, no?

"So it's going to be one time that this is and the people, they will have to accept."

Strong words from Lopez, although his statement stands true only due to the exploits of one man - Nadal.

Until he came along, most of the Spanish brigade - such as Albert Costa, Alex Corretja and Juan Carlos Ferrero - based their season almost exclusively around the clay at Roland Garros.

Wimbledon and its awkward, for them, grass courts was very much an after-thought.

Nadal though had other thoughts and, after two losses in the final to Roger Federer, he finally broke through to win a classic in 2008. He won for a second time this year just weeks after winning his fifth French Open title. In 2009, he won the Australian Open.

Outside of Nadal, no Spaniard has won a men's Grand Slam title other than the French Open since Manuel Orantes won the 1975 US Open.

Robredo, though, says that it is not just about winning the Grand Slam titles, but also reaching the final stages.

"Normally the people outside of Spain, they think that we can do good only in Paris because it's clay," he said.

"But I think if you check the results on the last four, five Grand Slams, there is always a Spaniard in quarters, semis, besides Nadal.

"There is Ferrer, (Nicolas) Almagro, Lopez, Verdasco, myself, and a lot of other players like Ferrero, (Carlos) Moya.

"The last couple of years we have been there, so I think that it's not strange that we have a lot of players playing in the top rounds."

World number one Nadal takes it all in his stride.

"Just congratulate my friends. Best of luck for everybody," he said.