Marin Cilic upset second-ranked Rafael Nadal in the semifinals of the China Open on Saturday in Beijing.
The eighth-seeded Cilic cruised to a 6-1, 6-3 victory against Nadal, setting up a final against Novak Djokovic, who defeated Robin Soderling, 6-3, 6-3.
In the women’s draw, Svetlana Kuznetsova beat her Russian compatriot Nadia Petrova, 6-1, 6-3, to reach the final against Agnieszka Radwanska, who beat Marion Bartoli, 6-4, 6-3.
Cilic broke Nadal’s serve twice, racing to a 5-0 lead. Nadal struggled to respond to the 21-year-old Cilic’s booming serve and aggressive returns. Cilic had six aces in the first set, with a first-serve percentage of 83 percent.
He continued to baffle Nadal in the second set, breaking serve in the first game and again in the sixth, wrecking Nadal’s timing and outpacing him with his groundstrokes.
“From the beginning of the match until the end I didn’t let my level of play drop and definitely I came into the match really good,” Cilic said. “I was aggressive when I had to be.
The best thing I did today: I didn’t back off, I was just stubborn with my style of play.”
Cilic has lost all three of his previous matches against Djokovic.
Nadal said he had felt under the gun throughout the match.
“He was serving unbelievably, and his returning was very fast and playing winners all the time,” Nadal said. “The worst thing for me was that when I had a little bit of a chance to come back to the match, I didn’t play very well, either.
“If you’re losing, 6-1, 6-3, there are a lot of things you’re doing wrong in that match. I can accept to win, I can accept to lose, but 6-1, 6-3 is — mentally, I probably wasn’t there.”
Djokovic broke Soderling in the first game and, after double-faulting on deuce at 4-3, fired three consecutive aces to hold serve and won the set.
Djokovic broke Soderling’s serve in the second set at 4-3, then served out the match with an ace.
“I assure you that it was a lot more difficult because he’s a big server, a big hitter, and he was very aggressive throughout the whole match,” said Djokovic, ranked No. 2 in the world. “So I was very patient and I waited for my chances that were given to me, and I used them at the right time.”
Kuznetsova had little difficulty dispatching Petrova, who had ground through three-set battles with Serena Williams and Peng Shuai to get to the semifinals.
“I tried to move her around. I knew it was her weakness,” said the sixth-seeded Kuznetsova, winner of the 2006 China Open said of Petrova.
DAVIS CUP FINAL IN BARCELONA The Davis Cup final between defending champion Spain and the Czech Republic will be played in Barcelona.
The Spanish tennis federation announced on Saturday that the best-of-five series scheduled for Dec. 4-6 would be held on the clay courts at Palau Sant Jordi.
The choice was made after the International Tennis Federation rejected Tenerife in the Canary Islands and the southern port city of Malaga because they were open-air courts. Malaga’s stadium also fell under the minimum seating capacity of 12,000.
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