Five days and eight injury retirements later, the Shanghai Masters semifinals are set. In the last quarterfinals match on Friday, Ivan Ljubicic pulled out of his match against Rafael Nadal in the third set with noticeable pain in his left thigh. He joined an absurdly long list of players to withdraw due to injury in Shanghai, including reigning U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro and world No. 6 Andy Roddick.
Ljubicic withdrew in the first game of the third set and handed Nadal a spot in the semifinals where he will take on fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez, who topped the No. 9-seeded Robin Soderling in straight sets on Thursday.
On the other side of the draw, Nikolay Davydenko is geared up to take on second-seeded Novak Djokovic for a spot in the finals. Djokovic dominated Davydenko in straight sets (6-1, 7-5) in the 2008 Masters Cup final at the Qi Zhong arena last year.
Djokovic won in the quarters in an intense three set battle with Gilles Simon. The two started out the third set with five consecutive service breaks before Djokovic was able to hold serve and win the match 6-3, 2-6, 6-2.
Davydenko is coming off a three set victory over Radek Stepanek where he relied on heavy hitting from the baseline to knock off the world No. 16.
If Nadal can beat Lopez in the semifinals, it will be his first finals appearance in any event since recurring knee injuries hampered his season earlier this year.
Follow Chris Sesno on Twitter: @csesno
