Nadal/Carreno Busta Reach Beijing Semis

Pablo Carreno Busta and Rafael Nadal reached the China Open semi-finals as they defeated local wild cards Mao-Xin Gong and Ze Zhang 7-5, 6-3 on Wednesday in Beijing.

Carreno Busta is looking to reach his second ATP World Tour doubles final in as many weeks after finishing runner-up in Chengdu on Sunday (w/ Fyrstenberg). The 25 year old also made the US Open final last month (w/ Garcia-Lopez). Nadal, meanwhile, is chasing his second doubles triumph of the season after winning the gold medal with Marc Lopez at the Rio Olympics.

Second seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo opened their campaign with a 7-6(10), 6-3 victory over Pablo Cuevas and Viktor Troicki. The Polish/Brazilian duo are bidding for their second ATP World Tour team title this week, having lifted the trophy in Vienna last year.

There was success for two French teams in the first round. Richard Gasquet and Lucas Pouille combined for a 4-6, 6-4, 10-6 victory over Mate Pavic and Michael Venus, while Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin beat Milos Raonic and Nenad Zimonjic 6-4, 7-5.