Beijing: World No.2 Rafael Nadal stopped Marat Safin’s Beijing revival in its tracks Friday with a clinical 6-3, 6-1 victory to reach the semi-finals of the $6.6-million China Open.

Nadal, playing his first tournament since returning from an abdominal injury, dominated a brief but richly entertaining encounter against former world No.1 Safin. He had served up 12 aces in his upset of seventh seed Fernando Gonzalez on Thursday but Nadal faced only one from the big Russian.

Elena Dementieva earlier joined the exodus of top women’s seeds when she was upset 5-7, 3-6 by Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska in the quarter finals.