Fit and firing Nadal reaches the last four

The defending champion Rafael Nadal beat Tomas Berdych 6-4, 7-6 late on Thursday night in Indian Wells to reach the semi-finals of the BNP Paribas Open in his first tournament since returning from a six-week injury lay-off.

Nadal used every inch of the court in beating Berdych for the sixth consecutive time. He mixed top-spin with power off the forehand side, slipped in drop shots and painted the corners with smashes.