The world men's tennis number two Rafa Nadal's comeback has come to a shuddering halt when he was crushed 6-1 6-3 by Croatian Marin Cilic in the semi-finals of the China Open.
Top seed Nadal had talked this week of getting back to the kind of form he enjoyed before tendinitis of the knees and an abdominal injury disrupted his season.
With his first final since May in his sights, however, the Australian Open champion simply had no answer to the power of the eighth seeded wildcard, who will meet Novak Djokovic in today's final.
French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, the highest surving women's seed, beat fellow Russian Nadia Petrova 6-1 6-3 in just over an hour to ease into her fourth China Open final, where she will play Pole Agnieszka Radwanska.
Meanwhile in Japan, second seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France will play Mikhail Youzhny of Russia in the Tokyo Open final.
