Stanislas Wawrinka secured a straight-sets victory over Rafael Nadal to move into the semi-finals of the Paris Masters tonight.
The Swiss and fourth seed beat his Spanish counterpart 7-6(8) 7-6(7) in two hours and 23 minutes to advance into the last four and seal a career-best 53rd victory in 2015.
The contest started ominously for the two-time Grand Slam winner, with Nadal breaking his serve in the very first game, but Wawrinka broke back in the 10th game to level up at 5-5.
A tiebreak was needed to separate the duo, with the pair exchanging breaks in the seventh and ninth points as neither seemed willing to surrender the first set.
Something had to give, and it did in the final point when Wawrinka, 9-8 ahead, broke Nadal to draw first blood in a fiercely-competitive start to the encounter.
Their stubborn service games resumed in the second set, but Wawrinka broke in the seventh game to move 4-3 ahead, before holding serve to move within one game of the semis.
However, Nadal, a 14-time Grand Slam champion, dug deep, holding serve to reduce the deficit, before breaking back to level up at five games apiece as another tiebreak loomed large.
There, Nadal cruised into a 5-2 lead as parity looked certain, but Wawrinka battled back bravely to lead 8-7 en route to clinching the final point.
He faces three-time champion Novak Djokovic in the next round.
