Second seeds Bruno Soares and Jamie Murray reached the semi-finals of the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships on Thursday by beating Marcus Daniell and Marcelo Demoliner 6-3, 6-4 in 67 minutes.

As a result, Murray and Soares have moved to within 10 points in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London of No. 4-ranked Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan (4,355) as teams battle to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held at The O2 in London from 12-19 November.

Murray and Soares, the only seeds left in the field with a 3-2 in finals record this year (7-4 overall as a team), will next challenge Dominic Inglot and Daniel Nestor in the Tokyo semi-finals.

Japanese wild cards Ben Mclachlan and Yasutaka Uchiyama held their nerve to delight local fans with a 7-6(2), 7-6(3) victory over top seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau in one hour and 37 minutes. Rojer and Tecau would have qualified for the season finale had they reached the Tokyo final. The Dutch-Romanian team is 16-4 in finals as a team (4-0 in 2017) and recently captured the US Open crown.

They go onto face Santiago Gonzalez and Julio Peralta, who saved two match points (from 7/9) in the Match tie-break for the second time in as many days when the Mexican-Chilean team edged past third seeds Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram 2-6, 7-6(5), 11-9 in 89 minutes. On Tuesday, Gonzalez and Peralta knocked out Marcin Matkowski and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi 12-10 in a Match tie-break.

Klaasen and Ram are attempting to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals, having reached the title match in 2016. They are currently No. 8 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London.

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World No. 1 Rafael Nadal is through to the quarter-finals of the China Open after defeating Karen Khachanov 6-3, 6-3 on Thursday in Beijing.

The Spaniard is bidding to win his second China Open title, following victory on his debut in 2005 (d. Coria). He also finished runner-up to Novak Djokovic in the 2013 and 2015 finals.

Nadal is also looking to boost his lead over Roger Federer in the battle to finish year-end No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. Thursday’s win hands him another 45 points, which extends his lead over his Swiss rival to 1,950 points in the year-to-date standings. Federer returns to action at next week’s Shanghai Rolex Masters, where 1,000 points are awarded to the winner.

Nadal defeated #NextGenATP Khachanov for the second time this year (also Wimbledon R3) as he saved the six break points he faced. The left-hander, in turn, broke Khachanov three times to prevail in 89 minutes. Nadal leads the ATP World Tour with 58 match wins in 2017 and is chasing his sixth tour-level crown in what has been an outstanding season, featuring two major titles at Roland Garros and the US Open and two ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crowns in Monte-Carlo and Madrid.

Nadal goes on to face sixth seed John Isner, who cruised past Leonardo Mayer 6-0, 6-3 in under an hour. The American struck eight aces and converted all four of his break points to earn the quarter-final clash with Nadal, whom he will be looking to beat for the first time in seven attempts.

The 32-year-old Isner has reached the quarter-finals on all five of his appearances at this ATP World Tour 500 tournament and is looking to go on and make the semi-finals for the second time (also 2010). The American is chasing his third ATP World Tour crown of the season this week, following victories in Newport (d. Ebden) and Atlanta (d. Harrison).

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American Steve Johnson, buoyed with confidence following his career-best win over World No. 7 Dominic Thiem on Tuesday, was super consistent and solid on serve — winning 25 of his 27 first-service points — to beat last week’s Shenzhen Open finalist, Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-2, 6-4 on Thursday at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships 2017.

Johnson, who is through to the Tokyo quarter-finals for the second time (also 2014, on his tournament debut), is now 28-17 on the season that includes his second ATP World Tour title at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship (d. Bellucci). He will next play eighth-seeded Argentine Diego Schwartzman in the last eight at the Ariake Colosseum.

Later today, Canadian third seed and three-time finalist Milos Raonic, returning from a left wrist injury after a seven-week absence, takes on Japan’s Yuichi Sugita — enjoying a career-best season — and fourth-seeded Belgian David Goffin meets Australian qualifier Matthew Ebden. France’s Richard Gasquet, the 2007 finalist, also challenges Yen-Hsun Lu of Chinese Taipei.

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China Open – Beijing, China 

Dressed in traditional Chinese attire, Rafael Nadal, Alexander Zverev, Grigor Dimitrov and Juan Martin del Potro stopped by the iconic Beijing Bird’s Nest for a photo shoot ahead of the China Open Players’ Party. “Unbelievable place. The Olympic Stadium, unbelievable memories from there, from the ceremony, so very happy to be back out there,” said Nadal.

The group then headed to the top of the Olympic Tower, where they joined other ATP World Tour and WTA stars at a party to commemorate the start of the tournament. Dimitrov took home the award for ‘best dressed’, along with the WTA’s Petra Kvitova. The evening featured a traditional feature show and charity activity to raise money for the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation.

“I’ve never been to Beijing before,” said Kyrgios. “This is the first time for me, so I was really looking forward to this tournament and obviously this is a nice party.”

Michael Chang and his family attended the opening ceremony, held in the National Tennis Stadium, as the three-time China Open champion was named an International Tennis Hall of Fame global ambassador.

“I feel like it’s very fitting that we have this announcement actually here in Beijing,” Chang said. “I can recall playing here in Beijing in a much smaller venue. To see how tennis has grown tremendously over these years in and throughout China has been sensational.”

#NextGenATP’s Karen Khachanov commemorated China’s Mid-Autumn Festival on Wednesday, as he made mooncakes with a chef from a popular Beijing restaurant, Flo. The Russian also practised his Chinese and wished fans a Happy Moon Day.

Nadal helped raise money for the Rafael Nadal Academy and China Soong Ching Ling Foundation, as he teamed up with Chang and Chinese celebrities for a charity activity on Brad Drewett Court. Nadal and his team played points against a group of children in attendance, and then challenged Chinese football star Hao Haidong in a game of football and tennis.

Tomas Berdych assisted with the draw ceremony and also took time to meet up and take photos with fans. 

Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships 2017 – Tokyo, Japan

Players showed off their calligraphy skills during the official Welcome Reception at the Palais, in the Grand Nikko Tokyo Daiba hotel. Donning traditional kimonos, the likes of Marin Cilic, Milos Raonic, Kevin Anderson and Sam Querrey tried their hand at writing the Japanese character for ‘Samurai’ or ‘heart’. 

Cilic, Thiem, Raonic, Anderson, Querrey and Feliciano Lopez also delighted supporters when they trained in front of hundreds of spectators on Centre Court. The Tokyo tournament organisers have opened the doors to fans for ATP Sunday since 2007.

Dominic Thiem enjoyed a visit to a Tokyo sushi restaurant and the Odaiba-Ferris wheel. The Austrian dressed in traditional sushi chef uniform as he served and ate sushi, and then enjoyed the cityscape from the ferris wheel.

Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka assisted with the draw ceremony at Festival Plaza.

The more aces Nick Kyrgios hits, the more help Puerto Rico, which was devastated by Hurricane Maria, will receive.

The 22-year-old Aussie upped his planned giving to the U.S. territory on Wednesday, saying he would give $50 for every ace he hits through the remainder of the season. Kyrgios had said he would give $10 for every ace, joining WTA player Monica Puig, who is from Puerto Rico, in helping rebuild the island, which is home to 3.4 million people.

Kyrgios won again on Wednesday, hitting 11 aces to beat German Mischa Zverev 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 at the China Open in Beijing. The Aussie will meet Belgian Steve Darcis in the quarter-finals.

You know what? I’m upping my offer for @MonicaAce93 #DonateWithMonica to $50 per ace. Let’s help Puerto Rico ❤️??https://t.co/ydPq2wzUod

— Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) October 4, 2017