Nadal, Soderling advance in Abu Dhabi

Rafael Nadal beat his Spanish Davis Cup teammate David Ferrer 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 to secure a place in the final of the Capitala World Tennis Championships at the Zayed Sports City Friday.

Nadal will play Robin Soderling, who earlier recovered from a set down to dispatch top-ranked Roger Federer 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (7-1), 6-2. Both players held serve in the opening two sets, each winning a tie-breaker, before Soderling broke the Swiss in the third and seventh games of the third set.
The Swedish No. 8 broke into the top 10 on the back of two wins over Nadal last year. He first beat him in the fourth round of the French Open to end the Spaniard’s 31-match winning streak. Today’s win was his first over Federer in 13 games.