Nadal pushed to third set at China Open

BEIJING, Oct. 8 (UPI) -- Rafael Nadal failed twice while serving for the match in the second set Thursday but escaped with a victory over James Blake at the $3.3 million China Open.

Nadal served for the match at 5-4 and 6-5 of the second set but Blake fought back with two of his three service breaks on the day and then took the tiebreaker, forcing a third set.

But Nadal cashed in his only break chance and lost only eight points in five service games of the decisive set in advancing to Friday's quarterfinals.

He'll go against Marin Safin, who defeated seventh-seeded Fernando Gonzalez 6-3, 6-4 in his second-round match.

Also Thursday, sixth-seeded Robin Soderling topped Tommy Robredo 6-3, 6-3 and Ivan Ljubicic got by Lukasz Kubot 7-6 (8-6), 4-6, 6-4 to set up another quarterfinal pairing.

In quarterfinals determined by results from Wednesday, No. 2-seeded Novak Djokovic will play fifth-seeded Fernando Verdasco and fourth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko is paired against eighth-seeded Marin Cilic.