BEIJING, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- Second seed Rafael Nadal was ousted by qualifier Martin Klizan from the Slovak Republic 6-7 (7-9), 6-4, 6-3 at the quarter-final of the China Open here Friday.
Klizan finished it in two hours and a half, facing third seed Tomas Berdych in the semifinals, who defeated John Isner 6-1, 6-4 earlier in the day.
Klizan had lost twice to Nadal in their only two previous encounters. "I'm just so proud of myself that I could win today. I'm looking forward to tomorrow to play semifinal. It's my first semifinal in ATP 500 tournament," he said.
Klizan, ranked 56 in the world, just claimed his second ATP World Tour title in Munich in May 2014, which made him the first qualifier to lift an ATP World Tour trophy since June 2013.