Rafael Nadal ended the Paris Masters run of defending champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarter-finals on Friday.

His victory helped fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco book his spot at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.

Tsonga needed to retain his title to deny Verdasco a place at the prestigious eight-man tournament in London later this month, but found Nadal far too consistent and fell to a 7-5 7-5 defeat.

The world number two struggled in his first two matches, saving five match points against Nicolas Almagro before edging out Tommy Robredo, but his form was much improved today.

Tsonga dominated much of the first set with his blistering groundstrokes but could not take advantage of five break points and gradually Nadal took the sting out of his opponent before breaking in the 11th game.

The second set took on a similar pattern, although the errors, particularly tactical ones, were more frequent from the home favourite and Nadal again broke at 5-5 thanks to a poor game from Tsonga.

The 23-year-old confidently served out for victory and will face Novak Djokovic in a juicy semi-final tomorrow after the third seed also did his bit for Verdasco's cause.

Djokovic was a 6-4 1-6 6-3 winner against Robin Soderling, who would have moved into this year's top eight by reaching the final in Bercy.

Soderling frequently looked the better player against Djokovic but the world number three dug in and a decisive break in the eighth game of the decider put him on course for victory.

Nadal and Djokovic have met 19 times, with the Spaniard holding a clear lead at 14-5. However, Djokovic won their last encounter in Cincinnati in August for the loss of only five games.

The home crowd had something to cheer later in the day when Gael Monfils recovered from a set down to beat Marin Cilic 3-6 6-4 6-4.

"It's great to win in France like this," Monfils told Sky Sports 2. "I fought and competed very well.

"I am in the semi-finals so I am very happy now and I hope I am not finished here."

Asked about the key to turning the match around, Monfils added: "I was a little too defensive but I tried to be more aggressive and move him a little bit more, but the main thing was the belief in myself."

Monfils will now take on Radek Stepanek in the semis.

The 30-year-old Czech was 4-0 up on world number five Juan Martin del Potro in the last of the day's quarter-finals when the Argentinian was forced to retire with what looked like a stomach injury.

US Open champion Del Potro, who came through a gruelling match against Fernando Gonzalez yesterday, had nothing left to give against Stepanek and called it a day with the World Tour Finals coming up.