Rafael Nadal will play Marin Cilic in the SF's of the Shanghai Masters on Saturday after the world number one was forced to fight past Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 6-7 (4/7), 6-3.
The Spaniard, who has never won the Shanghai showpiece, is chasing a seventh title in a brilliant season and a hat-trick of triumphs on the trot, having been crowned US Open and China Open champion in recent weeks
. The 16-time Grand Slam winner saw off the Bulgarian Dimitrov in Beijing last week but suffered some hairy moments in getting the better of him again in a nervy quarter-final played in overcast conditions.
"Very happy, it was a very tough match, both of us played a very high level of tennis," said 31-year-old Nadal, the top seed.
"I enjoyed it, a great battle between two players that are playing all the time very focused and intense points all the time.
"A lot of matches in a row winning and very happy with everything, let's see what happens tomorrow, but being able to win in Beijing and now semi-finals here... tough events against tough players.
"Just focus on holding that momentum."
The Croatian fourth seed Cilic -- who has defeated Nadal only once in five matches -- beat the unseeded Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-3, 6-4.
Cilic, bidding to reach the season-ending ATP Finals in London, said his improved consistency was key.
"My team has worked really well in all parts of my game just to bring it up to the nice level that I can keep it up throughout every single week," he said.
"I got to understand also all the things that we were working on.
"They are quite clear for me and I also am a little bit more consistent this year in serving performances.
"I'm winning quite a lot of service games and a lot of matches."
The remaining two quarter-finals pit number two Roger Federer against unseeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet. The winner will play Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro or Viktor Troicki of Serbia in the last four.
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