Rafael Nadal fended off a tough challenge from James Blake to advance to the quarterfinals of the China Open on Thursday, as Serena Williams stumbled out of the WTA/ATP event in a third set tiebreak. Nadal, the top seed in Beijing, and Blake thrilled the crowd on centre court at the 2008 Olympic Games tennis venue for nearly two-and-a-half hours before the Spanish world number two notched the win, 7-5, 6-7 (4/7), 6-3.
The pair remained even throughout most of the first set until Nadal broke the 29-year-old American for a second time to go up 6-5 and then served out the set. In the quarterfinals, Nadal - who won the China Open in 2005 - will face Russia's Marat Safin, a crowd favourite and 2004 champion here, who upset Chilean seventh seed Fernando Gonzalez in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4.
World number two Williams battled back several times but was unable to overcome Russian 13th seed Nadia Petrova, who won in three sets, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7/5). In other third round matches on the women's side of the 6.6-million-dollar event, seventh seed Vera Zvonareva of Russia, Polish 12th seed Agnieszka Radwanska and 14th seed Marion Bartoli of France all advanced.