Rafael Nadal through to semis

Second-seeded Rafael Nadal played his best tennis of the week to set up a semifinal against Novak Djokovic at the Paris Masters with a convincing 7-5, 7-5 win today over defending champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.



Nadal, whose year has been disrupted by several injuries, ended Tsonga\'s hopes of qualifying for the eight-man ATP World Tour Finals later this month.



Third-seeded Djokovic made the last four of the Paris tournament for the first time by beating Robin Soderling 6-4, 1-6, 6-3, but will need to get past the second-ranked Spaniard to reach the final.



The ninth-seeded Soderling also fell out of contention for the ATP finals with his loss, giving Spain\'s Fernando Verdasco the last available spot at the season-ending event.