Shanghai, October 18: Rafael Nadal has advanced to the Shanghai Masters after Feliciano Lopez became the ninth player to retire from the tournament when trailing 6-1, 3-0.
The unseeded Lopez said he woke up Saturday with a right foot infection, and then twisted his right ankle on the last point of the first set.
Nadal, whose quarterfinal opponent Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia retired with a left hip injury, will play sixth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko in the final. The Russian outlasted second-seeded Novak Djokovic 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (1).
—Agencies