Rafael Nadal

celebrates his victory against Marin Cilic in their men’s singles semi-final at the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament on Saturday. He will face Roger Federer in the final on Sunday.

Shanghai, Oct. 14: Rafael Nadal survived a rollercoaster encounter with fourth seed Marin Cilic to power into Sunday’s final of the Shanghai Masters and will face Roger Federer in the final.

Timeless Roger Federer fought back from a set down to beat Juan Martin del Potro to tee up a final against Rafael Nadal.

The Swiss legend and world number two was uncharacteristically offtouch in meekly losing the first set, but he rolled back the years to defeat the Argentine 16th seed 36, 6-3, 6-3.

Earlier, the Spanish world number one, who has never won the tournament but is on a terrific run of form, finally saw off the Croat after saving three set points in the opener on the way to a tense 7-5, 7-6 (7/3) victory.

Cilic had only ever got the better of 16-time Grand Slam winner Nadal once in five previous meetings, but he made him work hard for this latest win. Nadal, pursuing a seventh title this season, put Cilic under immediate pressure in the Croat’s first two service games.

But the 29-year-old Cilic, the 2014 US Open champion, eventually settled, only to squander three set points as Nadal hung on grimly.

In the next game the 31year-old Nadal capitalised, breaking Cilic on the way to claiming the first set. With the crowd firmly in his favour, the Spaniard broke Cilic again in the third game of the second set, only for Cilic to break back for 3-3 when Nadal put his simple volley into the net.

— AFP