Davydenko, Lopez into Shanghai semis

Shanghai:

Russia's Nikolay Davydenko became the first player into the semifinals of the Shanghai Masters with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 win over Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic on Friday.

He was joined in the final four by unseeded Feliciano Lopez of Spain, who had an upset 7-6 (4), 6-3 win over ninth-seeded Robin Soderling of Sweden. It is Lopez's first semifinal of the year.

"Im so happy because I won already four matches this week against four great players," Lopez said.    Davydenko will play the winner of the later quarterfinal between second-seeded Novak Djokovic of Serbia and France's Gilles Simon.

Lopez will face either top-seeded countryman Rafael Nadal, or unseeded Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia in the semifinals.

Davydenko, who is looking for his third title of the year, dominated in the first and third sets, but lost his serve twice in the second set.

The Russian recouped one service break when Stepanek double faulted at 15-40 in the fourth game, but lost his own serve at love in the next game.

"He destroy me in the second set," said Davydenko, who is into his sixth semifinal of the season. "In the third set, I find my game and play better and better, good concentration, and he start again to do mistakes from the baseline."

The 41st-ranked Lopez took a 3-0 lead in the second set, breaking Soderling's serve in the second game.

Lopez served six of his 10 aces in the final seven games of the match.