Nadal makes Shanghai semis, ties Agassi for wins in Open Era

Rafael Nadal of Spain hits a return shot against Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria during their men’s quarterfinals match in the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament at Qizhong Forest Sports City Tennis Center in Shanghai, China, Friday, Oct. 13, 2017. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

SHANGHAI — Rafael Nadal tied Andre Agassi for seventh place on the list of all-time Open Era wins when he reached the Shanghai Masters semifinals on Friday.

Topping Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-3 was his 870th match win. Nadal also improved his win streak to 15 having won the China Open last week. In Beijing, he defeated Dimitrov in a three-set semifinal.

Nadal has yet to drop serve in Shanghai.

Dimitrov extended the quarterfinal to a third set when he rebounded from a 4-2 deficit to win the second-set tiebreaker.

In the third set, Nadal saved the one break point he faced in the match in the fifth game, and broke serve in the sixth to set up victory.

“Winning a lot of matches in a row, so I’m very happy for everything,” Nadal said. “Of course, being able to win the U.S. Open, Beijing, and being in the semifinals here … I have to try to keep focus and hold that momentum. We’ll see tomorrow if I can have another good day.”

Fourth-seeded Marin Cilic stands between Nadal and a second ATP final in two weeks.

Cilic advanced to his first Shanghai semifinal by beating Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain 6-3, 6-4.

The 25th-ranked Ramos-Vinolas ended Cilic’s streak of winning 21 service games in the sixth game of the
second set.

“I was a little bit angry with myself just with not keeping up the good tennis at that moment,” Cilic said.
The other quarterfinals – Juan Martin del Potro against Viktor Troicki of Serbia, and Roger Federer against Richard Gasquet – are later Friday.