Nadal next faces fourth-seeded Briton Andy Murray, who rallied for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Serbian Janko Tipsarevic.

After winning his first set comfortably, Nadal was within two points of victory in the second but then the towering Tsonga began his brave resistance.

Tsonga broke, helped along by an untimely double-fault from Nadal and then claimed the set with a magnificent forehand return winner.

The third set produced some highly entertaining tennis and the Frenchman combined explosive shots, deft slices and glorious backhand work around the net to stay in touch with the Spaniard.

Tsonga came close to breaking in the sixth game but Nadal held his nerve and for all the ebbs and flows of what had become a real battle, the pair remained on serve until the ninth game Nadal made the decisive break when Tsonga failed to keep a cross-court forehand in play and although the Frenchman staved off match points, the second seed claimed the two hour, 49 minute contest when his opponent dumped another forehand into the net.

Murray also endured a scare as the world No. 4 trailed by a set and a break before receiving medical attention for what appeared to be a stomach problem.

The Scot then promptly turned the match around as he broke the next service game from ninth seed Tipsarevic and went on to clinch the second set.

Murray, whose backhand was below par as he made 34 unforced errors, then broke in the third game of the final set and held firm with his serve to ensure a last-four showdown against Nadal.

Murray said after the game that his health problem was almost certainly related to over-hydrating before the game.
 
Bartoli stunner

Victoria Azarenka's 26-match winning streak was snapped by Marion Bartoli, who stunned the world No.1 6-3, 6-3 in the quarterfinals.

Azarenka's season-long win streak earned her four titles, including her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open, with which she gained the world number one ranking. The 22-year-old Belarusian also won in Sydney, Doha and Indian Wells.

It was the longest match-winning streak on the WTA Tour since Martina Hingis went 37-0 in 1997.

"I feel disappointed, sure," Azarenka said. "Who wouldn't be after the loss? "But what I've done in the last couple of months, I have to be really proud of myself. I could have maybe played better today, that's for sure, but I gave it all I had.

"Physically I was just not able to do anything today. It was just not possible." Defending champion Azarenka fell behind early Wednesday and was unable to turn it around like she did in her previous fourth round match.

Down a set and behind 5-2, she rallied to beat 16th seeded Dominika Cibulkova in three sets, 1-6, 7-6 (9/7), 7-5, but she couldn't engineer a similar comeback against Bartoli.

Azarenka has now lost two of her last three meetings to Bartoli. Bartoli beat her at last year's WTA Championship and Azarenka won in Sydney in January.

Azarenka has won twice before in Miami and was seeking to become the first player to defend her title since Serena Williams did it in 2008.

Bartoli, 27 and ranked at a career-high seventh in the world, will play fifth seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland for a place in the final.

Bartoli notched her third career victory over a world number one player. She beat Belgian Justine Henin at Wimbledon in 2007 and Serbia's Jelena Jankovic at the Australian Open in 2009.

Bartoli capitalized on six of 10 break point opportunities to secure just her third win in 11 meetings with the Belarusian.

The Frenchwoman is looking to win her first title of the season.