Tsonga disrupts Nadal comeback

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga put Rafael Nadal's comeback on ice and reached his first Shanghai Masters final with a thrilling 6-4, 0-6, 7-5 victory on Saturday.

The mercurial Frenchman recovered from an embarrassing 6-0 'bagel' in the second set to edge a thrilling decider, highlighted by his athletic diving volley to bring up match point.

The frustrated Nadal completely misread a backhand to give Tsonga the win, as the Spaniard narrowly failed to reach his second final in seven days after he was runner-up last week in Beijing.

Although Nadal will take encouragement from reaching the semis, after slipping to seventh in the rankings in a disappointing year, Tsonga will now celebrate one of his biggest wins of the season.

Novak Djokovic thrashed a misfiring Andy Murray to set up a Shanghai Masters final against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga as the world number one guns for his 10th title in China.

Djokovic's blockbuster semifinal with second-ranked Murray was hotly anticipated but the 6-1, 6-3 result was anti-climactic after Tsonga's thrilling upset of Rafael Nadal earlier.

The mercurial Frenchman recovered from an embarrassing 'bagel' in the second set to win 6-4, 0-6, 7-5, pulling off one of his trademark athletic dives to bring up match point.

But Tsonga now faces the steepest of challenges against Djokovic, who moves into his 13th straight final on a 16-match winning streak, and has never lost a final in China.

Djokovic had it unexpectedly easy against Murray, who was shaky on his serve and bad-tempered with it, double-faulting to yield the first of three breaks in a forgettable first set.