ATP Men's World Number 2 Rafael Nadal is through to the Semi Finals of the ATP Masters 1000 Event in Shanghai after his opponent, Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic was forced to retire.

The duo had met in the final of the Madrid Masters series event back in 2005. On that occasion, Nadal battled back from 2 sets to love down to win the title in front of his adoring home fans.

This time around it was Ljubicic who won the first set 6-3, but Nadal battled back to win the second set by the same score. However an injury then forced the Croat to retire and it saw Nadal through to the Semis where he will meet compatriot Felianciano Lopez. Nadal took the tennis world by storm when he won the Australian Open earlier this year.

The triumph meant that the Spaniard held 3 out of the 4 majors. Nadal has since been plagued by a knee injury which prevented him from defending his title at Wimbledon. If Nadal can find his best form, then he has every chance of upsetting the Betting Odds and winning the Masters Cup in London next month.