Nadal sets up Cilic clash after 15th straight victory

Rafael Nadal’s resurgence continued as he reached the semi-finals of the Shanghai Masters with a three-set victory over Grigor Dimitrov.

The Spanish world No 1 defeated Dimitrov en route to winning the China Open last week and he repeated the success with a 6-4 6-7 (6/8) 6-3 win yesterday, extending his winning streak to 15 matches.

It looked like Nadal, leading 4-2 in the second set tie-break, would win in straight sets, but the Bulgarian reeled off five straight points to level things up.

Nadal saved a break point at 2-2 in the decider, and is still to lose his serve in Shanghai, before breaking serve in the next game and going on to win to set up a semi-final clash with Marin Cilic.

Fourth seed Cilic has reached the last four without dropping a set and overcame Nadal’s countryman Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-3 6-4, although the Spaniard did managed to break Cilic’s serve for the first time in the competition at 3-3 in the second set.

On the other side of the draw, Juan Martin del Potro overcame a nasty tumble to beat Serbia’s Viktor Troicki 4-6 6-1 6-4.

Del Potro’s wrist problems have been well documented down the years and at 2-2 in the deciding set he fell awkwardly on to his non-playing hand, dropping on to it with most of his weight.

The Argentinian needed several minutes of medical attention while he sat on a chair on the back of the court, visibly wincing in pain.

However, on his return to action he immediately broke Troicki’s serve and went on to win.

Del Potro will play Roger Federer after he saw off Richard Gasquet 7-5 6-4.