Beijing, China (My Sportsbook) - Top-seeded Rafael Nadal and second- seeded Novak Djokovic led the charge into Saturday's semifinals at the China Open.

The reigning Aussie Open champion Nadal blew past fellow former world No. 1 and fellow former Beijing titlist Marat Safin 6-3, 6-1 on the hardcourts at the Olympic Green Tennis Center. The wild card Safin played his final match in Beijing on Friday, as the big Russian expects to retire from the ATP World Tour at season's end. The two-time major champ from Moscow was the Beijing winner back in 2004.

Nadal, who captured an Olympic gold medal at this same tennis complex 14 months ago, topped Safin in 1 hour, 17 minutes, as he broke Safin's serve four times in eight tries, while the Russian failed to break the powerful Spaniard on Day 5.

The 23-year-old Nadal is 2-0 lifetime against the 29-year-old Safin, with the other victory coming two years ago in Montreal.

The six-time major champion Nadal is now a perfect 8-0 lifetime at this event, including a title here back in 2005. He'll face eighth-seeded Croat Marin Cilic here on Saturday. Cilic cooled off fourth-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko 6-4, 6-4, as the Croat recorded twice as many service breaks (4-2) in the upset.

Davydenko was fresh off his hardcourt title last week in Malaysia.

Djokovic, meanwhile, got past fifth-seeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 1-6, 6-1 in a 1-hour, 44-minute less-than-thrilling affair. Verdasco was last week's Kuala Lumpur runner-up to Davydenko.

The former Australian Open titlist Djokovic will battle French Open runner-up Robin Soderling in the final four, as the Swedish Soderling, seeded sixth this week, handled former Top-10 Croat Ivan Ljubicic 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 in Friday's quarterfinals.

The 2009 Beijing champion will pocket $500,000.