Nadal To Meet Dimitrov In Beijing SFs

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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