Defending champion Rafael Nadal beat James Blake for the first time in their four meetings to move into the Pacific Life Open semifinals Thursday. Nadal finished off a 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 victory over his American opponent with an ace, then sank to his knees and thrust his arms skyward. He had finally taken the upper hand in the tight match when he broke Blake's service for a 5-3 lead in the third set. The Spaniard, ranked No. 2 behind Roger Federer, then served out without losing another point. The ninth-ranked Blake had beaten Nadal in the US Open in 2005, then defeated him twice in 2006, including the semifinals in Indian Wells. Nadal said that ending Blake's streak against him wasn't the big thing, but “the thing is being in the semifinals and beating two big players like (Jo-Wilfried) Tsonga and Blake. It was two very important matches.” Nadal will face Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic in Saturday's semifinal. Federer, on the other side of the bracket, will play Tommy Haas in one quarterfinals match Friday, with Mardy Fish going against David Nalbandian in the other. Djokovic and Ana Ivanovic, both 20-year-old Serbs who have joined the ranks of tennis' elite, won matches in straight sets to move into the semifinals. Djokovic defeated Stanislas Wawrinka 7-6(5), 6-2 to advance in the men's tournament, and No. 2 Ivanovic beat Vera Zvonareva 6-1, 6-4 on the women's side. Two-time champion Lindsay Davenport had to retire from her match against Jelena Jankovic after the first set because of a back problem. Jankovic, also from Serbia, won the set 6-2. Davenport, who has had back trouble in the past, said she thought lingering tightness might go away while she was playing. Davenport hopes the problem will clear up quickly so she can play at Miami in the tournament that begins next week. No. 3 Djokovic, down 6-5 in the opening set, broke Wawrinka's serve to set up the tiebreaker. Then, when Wawrinka was unable to return his volley for the final point of the tiebreaker, Djokovic celebrated by dropping to his knees, yelling in glee and pounding his chest with both hands. Ivanovic, the tournament's top seed, got off to a quick start against Zvonareva, taking just some 10 minutes to win the first four games against her Russian opponent. “She beat me a few times quite easy, so I knew I had to be active and sharp from the first moment on to put pressure on her,” said Ivanovic, who had split four previous matches against Zvonareva. Ivanovic, who lost to Maria Sharapova in the Australian Open final, will face Jankovic in one semifinal on Friday, with the other pitting Russians Sharapova and Svetlana Kuznetsova. The women's and men's finals are on Sunday. Live matches on website The WTA Tour's Web site will broadcast a live women's tennis match - in select countries - for free for the first time this weekend. The women's professional tour said Thursday it will stream the women's final at the Pacific Life Open live on its website, SonyEricssonWTATour.com. The live feed, however, will not be available to Internet users in the United States, Japan, Hong Kong, Australia or any country in Europe. __
