Djokovic match winning streak to eight

SHANGHAI, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- Novak Djokovic ran his winning streak to eight matches with a three-set victory Friday in the $5.3 million Shanghai ATP Masters tournament in China.

Djokovic took last week's ATP tournament in Beijing and qualified for the Shanghai semifinals Friday with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 triumph over eighth-seeded Gilles Simon. The win was the 27th in the last 32 matches for Djokovic, the No. 2 seed at Shanghai.

Simon pushed Djokovic in Friday's match, breaking the higher seeds serve five times but Djokovic answered with four service breaks in the third set alone to advance.

Top-seeded Rafael Nadal also made the semifinals. He was tied 3-6, 6-3 with Ivan Ljubicic but Ljubicic was unable to come out for the third set and retired.

He was the sixth player this week to retire from a match for health reasons.

Nadal is paired against unseeded Feliciano Lopez in Saturday's semifinals. Lopez took out ninth-seeded Robin Soderling 7-6 (7-4), 6-3. Lopez lost just six points on serve in the second set and recorded the only break of the set.

Djokovic's semifinal opponent is No. 6-seeded Nikolay Davydenko, who claimed a 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 win over 13th-seeded Radek Stepanek. Davydenko's serve was broke twice -- both in the second set -- and he piled up six breaks of Stepanek's serve.