Defending champion Rafael Nadal [ Images ] held his nerve to reach the last four at the Pacific Life Open by beating American James Blake [ Images ] 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 in the quarter-finals on Thursday.
The second-seeded Spaniard broke the American in the eighth game of the third set before serving out to seal victory in a contest lasting just over two hours.
Nadal won an opening set littered with unforced errors on both sides of the net before ninth-seeded Blake levelled the match after breaking the left-hander in the second game of the second.
World number two Nadal, who beat Blake for the first time in four career meetings, next meets Australian Open [ Images ] champion Novak Djokovic [ Images ] who defeated Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka 7-6 6-2 earlier in the day.
(Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes; Editing by Ed Osmond)

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