Top seeded Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal had to dig deep after coming under heavy fire from Colombia's Santiago Giraldo to win a brutal quarter-final 7-6 6-3 and advance to the final four at the Japan Open.
Andy Murray avoided a potential banana skin by beating Argentina's David Nalbandian 6-4 7-5 in the last match on court as the top four seeds all reached the Tokyo semi-finals.
While never in serious danger of losing his Japan Open title, Nadal survived a barrage before unleashing a late salvo of his own to come through in a shade over two hours.
Nadal will face Mardy Fish, who has won 20 of his last 24 matches, in the semi-finals after the American fought back to beat 18-year-old Australian Bernard Tomic 6-7 6-4 6-1.
Second seed Murray will play third-seeded David Ferrer after the Spaniard -- Tokyo winner in 2007 -- outmuscled Czech Radek Stepanek 6-2 7-6 in their quarter-final.
