Rafael Nadal was barely troubled as he secured a China Open semi-final spot with victory over Marat Safin.

The world number two needed just an hour and 17 minutes to set up a clash with Croatia's Marin Cilic.

He saved three break points for the Russian in the first set, taking his only opportunity to clinch a game on Safin's serve.

The second set was more straightforward, Nadal breaking three times and winning 80% of points on his own first serve to wrap up a 6-3 6-1 win.

Cilic also eases to a straight-sets win, beating fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko 6-4 6-4.

Davydenko had significantly the better first-serve ratio throughout - 72% as opposed to 62 - but won only 59% of points behind it and was broken four times.

In the second semi-final, number two seed Novak Djokovic will meet Sweden's Robin Soderling after a topsy-turvy win over Spain's Fernando Verdasco.

Djokovic led by a set but dropped his serve twice as the fifth seed took the second 6-1 to level the match.

The Serbian responded in kind though, two breaks of his own wrapping up a 6-3 1-6 6-1 win.

Soderling needed a tie-break to go a set ahead against Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic, but wrapped up a match featuring only one break of serve 7-6 (7-3) 6-4.

In the women's event, fourth seed Elena Dementieva was upset 7-5 6-3 by Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska.

The 12th seed had only reached the last eight after surviving a scare against Spain's Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez but broke six times as the Russian's sometimes brittle serve failed her.

Dementieva's compatriot Nadia Petrova, seeded 13th, came from a set down against home favourite Peng Shuai to win a two-hour 40-minute battle.

Peng broke only once in the match but took the opener on a tie-break before Petrova rallied to a 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 6-2 win.

She will face sixth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, who won the all-Russian last-eight clash 6-3 6-3 against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

France's Marion Bartoli also came from behind in the last of the quarter-finals, beating Vera Zvonareva 3-6 7-5 6-2 to set up a clash with Radwanska.