Rafael Nadal will look to get the better of a player hoping to join him at next month’s Nitto ATP Finals, Grigor Dimitrov, on Saturday in the China Open semi-finals. Nadal leads Dimitrov 8-1 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series.

Top seed and 2005 champion Nadal, who is bidding to become year-end No. 1 for the fourth time (also 2008, 2010, 2013), knocked out sixth-seeded American John Isner 6-4, 7-6(0) to improve to a 23-5 mark at the ATP World Tour 500 tournament in China.

Nadal broke Isner’s serve at 5-4 in the first set, then recovered from 15/40 in the second game of the second set before sweeping through the tie-break. The Spanish superstar is now an ATP World Tour-best 59-9 (32-7 on hard courts) in 2017 and continues his quest for a 75th tour-level crown.

Earlier in the day, Dimitrov further strengthened his bid for a spot at the Nitto ATP Finals – to be held at The O2 in London from 12-19 November – by advancing to the Beijing semi-finals.

Dimitrov improved to 38-15 on the season after he defeated fifth seed Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-2 in the quarter-finals over two hours and 29 minutes.

The victory gives Dimitrov 90 points in Emirates ATP Race To London (now 3,275 points), but the Bulgarian remains in fifth position 440 points behind Austrian Dominic Thiem (3,715).

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Belgian David Goffin continued his rise up the Emirates ATP Race To London and into contention for a spot at the Nitto ATP Finals on Friday when he reached the semi-finals of the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships 2017.

Fourth seed Goffin recovered from a 2-5 deficit in the first set and three set points to defeat 2007 finalist Richard Gasquet of France 7-5, 6-2 in one hour and 38 minutes on an overcast and wet Friday in Tokyo. He will now prepare to face eighth-seeded Argentine Diego Schwartzman on Saturday.

Goffin, who began the week at No. 13 in the Emirates ATP Race To London, is now up to No. 11 and within just 15 points of No. 10-placed American Sam Querrey (2,345 points), who holds the final qualification spot for the season finale that will be held at The O2 in London from 12-19 November. Querrey lost to Gasquet in the Tokyo first round.

Goffin was made to work hard against Gasquet, who led 3-2 when rain stopped play and, with the players remaining on court, the Ariake Colosseum roof began to close. At 5-3, Gasquet failed to convert a 40/0 lead and paid the price in a run of seven straight games for Goffin. The consistent Belgian broke for a fourth time at 3-1 in the second set and is now seven matches unbeaten — 47-18 overall on the season that includes last week’s Shenzhen Open title (d. Dolgopolov).

Schwartzman won the first match of the day to advance to his second ATP World Tour semi-final of the year. He lost just three points in his first seven service games en route to a 6-0, 7-5 victory over American Steve Johnson in one hour and 33 minutes. The diminutive 25 year old, who reached the last four at Istanbul (l. to Cilic) in May, is now 32-23 on the season.

World No. 46 Johnson, who had beaten second seed Dominic Thiem of Austria in the first round and Ukraine’s Alexandr Dolgopolov in the second round, received on-court treatment for a neck complaint after the third game. Although he took time to work his way into the match, incredibly he held one set point at 5-4, Advantage, in the second set when Schwartzman was serving. Schwartzman, who created 17 break point opportunities in the pair’s first tour-level meeting, held on and broke in the next game before ultimately closing out after six match point chances.

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Alexander Zverev earned his 50th ATP World Tour match victory of the season with a straightforward 6-4, 6-2 win over Fabio Fognini in 73 minutes on Thursday, advancing to the quarter-finals of the China Open.

“I thought in the beginning we both played pretty well, from the baseline especially. I think [it was] a pretty high level,” Zverev said. “I’m happy to get through.”

The German, who broke the Italian four times, continued his pursuit of a tour-leading sixth ATP World Tour title in 2017. He is currently tied with fellow Beijing quarter-finalist Rafael Nadal and 19-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer with five titles each.

Zverev’s 25th hard-court victory of 2017 was also his second win over Fognini this year, after beating the 30 year old on clay in Rome.  The 20 year old is inching closer to securing his first appearance in the Nitto ATP Finals, currently sitting in third in the Emirates ATP Race To London.

Next, Zverev will face US Open quarter-finalist and #NextGenATP star Andrey Rublev, who upset World No. 20 Tomas Berych earlier Thursday. Their only previous tour-level meeting was in Monte Carlo last year, where Zverev won in straight sets.

“It’s obviously going to be an entertaining Next Gen match,” said Zverev, who competed both with and against Rublev many times in the juniors. “It’s obviously great to see young guys coming through, but tomorrow’s a match against him and I’m ready for it.” 

Andrey Rublev overcame a set and a break deficit to defeat World No. 20 Tomas Berdych, 1-6, 6-4, 6-1 in one hour and 48 minutes at the China Open in Beijing on Thursday.

The #NextGenATP star trailed the Czech 1-6, 1-3 before storming back to win 11 of the next 13 games, severely damaging Berdych’s London dreams of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals.

After the former World No. 4 saved a break point to hold for 3-1 in the second set, his 19-year-old Russian opponent broke his serve on three consecutive occasions to completely turn the tide of the match, winning 64 per cent of points in the third set.

For Rublev, Thursday’s victory was the third Top 20 win of his young career, after beating both Grigor Dimitrov (No. 9) and David Goffin (No. 14) at this year’s US Open. He is now into his fourth ATP World Tour quarter-final of the season, after going on to win his first title as a lucky loser at the Plava Laguna Croatia Open in Umag this July.

Berdych was in pursuit of his first title of the season and was attempting to get back in the winners’ circle in Beijing after capturing the trophy in 2011. He was also sitting in 14th place in the Emirates ATP Race To London, and could have significantly increased his chances of qualifying with a strong week.

Rublev will now face the second seed, Alexander Zverev, who defeated veteran Fabio Fognini.

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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