Nadal overwhelmed Russia’s Dmitry Tursunov 6-4, 6-1 to reserve a semifinals spot. Tursunov, a six-time winner on tour, reached his first quarterfinals on tour this week since he returned to the tour in May following two ankle surgeries.
Nadal said he was hoping to finish up early so he could have a quiet dinner and then watch the football friendly between Japan and Argentina.
But he said he was not ready yet to start thinking about winning his first title in Japan.
“It was a very nice atmosphere,” he said.”But I still have hard matches ahead.” Viktor Troicki spared Nadal from meeting Guillermo Garcia-Lopez — who beat Nadal en route to the Bangkok title last week — by defeating the Spaniard 6-2, 3-6, 6-4.
Troicki, who served 14 aces, has yet to beat Nadal.
Monfils outlasted Roddick 7-6 (5), 4-6, 7-6 (6) in a nearly three-hour-long match that was won on big serves and well-placed returns.
Roddick converted his only break chance in three to win the second set, and it was the only break of the match.
Monfils missed all 10 of his break chances, needing to edge 10th-ranked Roddick in tiebreakers.
Monfils, ranked 15th and seeded 5th, said he tried to play an aggressive game and push the power-serving Roddick by going to the net and concentrating on placing his return shots.
In Beijing, top seeds Novak Djokovic and Caroline Wozniacki powered into the China Open semifinals on Friday, while Chinese favorite Li Na earned her best result in her home tournament.
Defending champion Djokovic, ranked No. 2, fended off all seven break points he faced while breaking Gilles Simon three times on his way to winning 6-3, 6-2. It’s the fifth straight time he’s beaten the Frenchman.
“I’m very happy that my serve is getting better and better, and hopefully I’m going to use it more and more,” Djokovic said.
The US Open runner-up is enjoying a surge in form, crediting his semifinals appearance at Wimbledon with providing a boost in confidence.
Looking for his second title of the year, Djokovic will meet American qualifier John Isner, who upset fourth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko 7-6 (4), 6-4, serving 18 aces to the Russian’s one.
Djokovic beat Isner in their only previous match in March, but it took the Serb more than four hours and six match points to top Isner in the Davis Cup.
Wozniacki, to be crowned No. 1 for the first time on Monday, overcame a painful knee injury in the second set to beat former No. 1 Ana Ivanovic 7-6 (1), 6-3.
With her knee heavily taped, Wozniacki returned to the court at 3-1 in the second set and endured a late charge by Ivanovic to beat the Serb for the first time.
Although painful, the injury didn’t appear serious, Wozniacki said.
“I don’t think it’s too serious so hopefully I’ll be OK, but definitely it was a bit of a scare,” she said.
Ivanovic double-faulted nine times and broke the Dane twice, but Wozniacki applied more pressure and nailed three of 11 break opportunities.
Despite her new status, it was just another day on the court, Wozniacki said.
“Of course it felt great to wake up this morning as world No. 1, but out on the court it didn’t feel different. I knew it was going to be a tough match,” she said.
Li gave the Chinese crowd something to celebrate with a hard-fought 7-6 (8), 6-3 victory against Latvian qualifier Anastasija Sevastova to reach the tournament’s semifinals for the first time.
The world No. 15 struggled against her 55th-ranked opponent in the first set. In the second, Li looked set to win at 5-2, but Sevastova broke serve to stay in the game.
Undeterred, Li promptly broke back for the win, eliciting a huge cheer from the home crowd at the Beijing Tennis Center.
“I wasn’t at all familiar with this opponent,” Li said.
“You see out on the court I was playing a little tight.” Li next faces second-seeded Vera Zvonareva, who made easy work of French Open champion Francesca Schiavone 6-0, 6-2.
That was one game better than the world No. 4 won against the Italian on the same court a year ago. Zvonareva improved to 10-0 against Schiavone in a match that lasted just 54 minutes.
Eighth-seeded David Ferrer of Spain surprised third-seeded Robin Soderling of Sweden 6-2, 6-4, and second-seeded Andy Murray went out to Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia 6-3, 6-2 in the last men’s quarterfinal.
