体坛英语资讯：Nadal, Djokovic into last four at China Open

World number two and Olympic champion Rafael Nadal showed few signs of vulnerability as he beat Russian Marat Safin in the quarterfinals at the 6.6 million U.S. dollars China Open here on Friday. Nadal, who won the Beijing Olympics gold medal in the same venue last year, was barely tested by the former world number one en route to the 6-3, 6-1 victory.

Rafael Nadal of Spain returns the ball during the men's singles second round match against James Blake of the U.S. at the China Open tennis tournament in Beijing, Oct. 8, 2009. Nadal won 2-1.

Nadal broke four times out of five opportunities in the one hour and 17 minutes match. The Spaniard in the semifinals shall take on world No. 15 Marin Cilic from Croatia, who earned a place in the last four after victory over Nikolay Davydenko of Russia 6-4, 6-4.

In other quarterfinals, world number four Novak Djokovic defeated fifth seed Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 1-6, 6-1.

Novak Djokovic of Serbia returns the ball during the men's singles quarterfinal match against Fernando Verdasco of Spain at the China Open tennis tournament in Beijing, Oct. 9, 2009. Djokovic won the match 2-1

Coming into the match on a four-match winning streak, the 22-year-old Djokovic had to overcome a worrying second set before wrapping up the match in one hour and 44 minutes. "I had ups and downs in today's match," said Djokovic. " Verdasco used these chances in the second set when he broke and he had control over the match. I had to save energy in the second set for the refreshing start of the third and I was fortunate enough to do so."

Djokovic next will face sixth seed Robin Soderling who beat Croat Ivan Ljubicic 7-6(3), 6-4.

In the elite WTA tournament, China's Peng Shuai, 53rd ranked in the world, did not continue with her giant-killing run as she was stopped by Russia's 13th seed Nadia Petrova 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-2 in the quarterfinals.

Peng Shuai of China reacts during the quarter-final match of women's singles against Nadia Petrova of Russia at China Tennis Open Tournament 2009 at National Tennis Centre in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 9, 2009. Peng lost 1-2.

Peng, who beat top seeds Jelena Jankovic and Maria Sharapova onher road to the last eight, broke Petrova's first serve for a 2-0 lead in the opening set, but Petrova broke back in the fourth gameto level the match. At 6-5, Petrova threatened to close up the set earlier while forcing a break point in the 10th set on Peng's serve, but the 23-year-old Chinese girl, who produced an impressive display of baseline work, held serve and won the following tiebreak at 7-5.

Peng seemed to have trouble in moving with her left leg, called medical timeout at 1-1 in the second set, which did not help.

The Russian broke in the seventh and ninth games to pull back one set at 6-3.

Petrova, physically in good shape after battling through second seed Serena Williams in the last round only 15 hours ago, had a much easier time of it in the final set.

Nadia Petrova of Russia hits a return to Peng Shuai of China during the quarter-final match of women's singles at China Tennis Open Tournament 2009 at National Tennis Centre in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 9, 2009. Petrova won 2-1

"When she called a timeout, I thought I might have chance of winning. I told myself that I need to stay focused," said Petrova. Her reward will be a semifinal against Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Elsewhere, an underperforming Olympic champion Elena Dementievalost to Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska 7-5, 6-3.