Nadal into semi-finals at Argentina Open

Rafael Nadal moved into the semi-finals of the Argentina Open with a 7-6 (7-3) 6-2 victory over Paolo Lorenzi on Friday.

The top seed raced to a 4-1 lead in the opening set but Lorenzi clawed his way back to send it to a tiebreaker, in which Nadal prevailed.

The Spaniard had a total of 19 unforced errors in the first set but improved in the second to ease through to the last four in Buenos Aires.

Nadal will face Dominic Thiem in the semi-finals after the world number 29 got past Dusan Lajovic.

Thiem needed one hour, twenty minutes to defeat his Serbian opponent 6-4 6-2.

The Austrian saved all five of Lajovic’s break point opportunities and converted three of his own to claim victory.

Nicolas Almagro will contest the other semi-final after a 6-2 7-5 win over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Almagro won 92 per cent of his first serves and took out three of his four break points to breeze past world number 12 Tsonga.

However, the Spaniard will have to wait until Saturday to find out his opponent in the last four, after David Ferrer’s match against Pablo Cuevas was suspended.

Three-time Argentina Open winner Ferrer was leading the first set 4-2 against Cuevas, but rain halted play and a decision was made to continue the game on Saturday at midday.