Nadal books Murray semi

World number two Rafael Nadal held off a rally from Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to set up a Sony Ericsson Open semi-final against Andy Murray.

Nadal led by a set and a break before the sixth-seeded Frenchman fought back to take the second set.

Nadal then broke in the third set but still Tsonga did not give up, creating two break points as Nadal served for the match before the Spaniard finally prevailed with a 6-2 5-7 6-4 victory.

Such a battle did not seem to be in the offing as Nadal raced through the first set, dominating the Tsonga second serve.

And when he went a break up in the second set, the match appeared to be all over.

But as he served for the match, Tsonga finally rallied as won five games in a row to take the second and go 1-0 up in the third.

The set went with serve until Nadal broke to go 5-4 up, but he was pushed hard by Tsonga in the final game before sealing the win with his third match point.

Next up for Nadal is world Number four Murray, who made it through with a 4-6 6-3 6-4 victory over Janko Tipsarevic.