Second seed Rafael Nadal [ Images ] out-fought Juan Ignacio Chela 7-5 7-5 to reach the semi-finals of the Pacific Life Open on Thursday.

In a tight contest where both men launched huge stokes from the baseline, twice French Open [ Images ] champion Nadal was much more secure competing in the big points.

The Spaniard forced the Argentine into a backhand error to break him to 6-5 in the second set and won the match when Chela committed a backhand error.

Nadal will face the winner of the match between third seed Andy Roddick [ Images ] of the U.S. and eight-seeded Croatia [ Images ]n Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia.

In the women's section, Russian second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova [ Images ] clawed back to a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Czech Nicole Vaidisova [ Images ] in the quarter-finals.