Nadal advances to Miami semis

Miami - Top seed Rafael Nadal advanced to the semi-finals of the ATP Tour's Miami Masters tournament on Thursday by rallying to beat Canadian Milos Raonic 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.

Spain's Nadal, who has lost three times in the Miami final, clinched the victory on the first match point in the third set when Raonic failed to reach a spinning serve out wide.

Nadal advances to the semis, where he will face seventh seeded Tomas Berdych, who cooled off the red-hot Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov in straight sets, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3), earlier in the day.

The other Friday semi-final features Japan's Kei Nishikori squaring off against second seeded Serb Novak Djokovic.

Results on Thursday from the 10th day of the WTA and ATP Miami Masters (x denotes seeded player):

Men

Quarter-finals

Tomas Berdych (CZE x7) bt Alexandr Dolgopolov (UKR x22) 6-4, 7-6 (7/3)
Rafael Nadal (ESP x1) bt Milos Raonic (CAN x12) 4-6, 6-2, 6-4

Women

Semi-finals

Serena Williams (USA x1) bt Maria Sharapova (RUS x4) 6-4, 6-3
Li Na (CHN x2) bt Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) 7-5, 2-6, 6-3