Second seed Rafael Nadal survived an epic first set tiebreaker on the way to a 7-6 (12-10), 6-1 victory over eighth seed Stanislas Wawrinka on Friday night to advance to the semifinals of the Shanghai Rolex Masters.
Nadal, who reclaimed the No. 1 ranking from Novak Djokovic earlier this week, had to summon all his skills to overcome the Swiss, who has been steadily improving throughout the year.
Wawrinka, the eighth seed, served well and played strong from the baseline, but against 13-time Grand Slam champion Nadal it was not enough.