Shanghai Open: Nadal battles past Dimitrov to reach semis

Shanghai [China], Oct 13 (ANI): World number one Rafael Nadal kept alive his hopes of clinching his first Shanghai Rolex Masters title by booking his place in the semi-finals of the tournament with a win over Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov in a three-set thriller here on Friday.

After comfortably winning the first set, the Spanish tennis maestro went down in the second before rebounding strongly to register his second victory over sixth-seeded Dimitrov for the second time in as many weeks in the quarter-finals of the men's singles event.

The final score of the last-eight clash that lasted more than three hours read 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-3 in favour of Nadal.

With the win, Nadal, who is currently riding a 15-match winning streak, improved to an ATP World Tour-best 64-9 match record in 2017.

It should be recalled that the top-seed had earlier beaten Dimitrov last week in the China Open semi-finals by 6-3, 4-6, 6-1.

Nadal has not set up a clash against fourth-seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia for a place in the summit showdown. (ANI)