serving Marin Cilic produced a major upset by routing Rafael Nadal in the semifinals of the China Open Saturday. The eighth-seeded Croat cruised through 6-1, 6-3 against the No. 2-ranked Spaniard, setting up a final against Serbia's Novak Djokovic, who downed Sweden's Robin Soderling 6-3, 6-3. In the women's competition, Svetlana Kuznetsova defeated Russian compatriot Nadia Petrova 6-1, 6-3, to move into the final against 12th seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, who downed France's Marion Bartoli 6-4, 6-3. Cilic broke Nadal's serve twice in the first set, racing to a 5-0 lead as the Spaniard struggled to respond to the 21-year-old's booming serve and aggressive returns. All but two of Cilic's eight aces came in the first set, helping him to a first-serve percentage of 83. He continued to baffle Nadal in the second set, breaking serve in the first game and again in the sixth, wrecking Nadal's timing and outpacing him with his groundstrokes. “From the beginning of the match until the end I didn't let my level of play drop and definitely I came into the match really good,” said Cilic. “I was aggressive when I had to be.” “The best thing I did today: I didn't back off, I was just stubborn with my style of play.” Despite losing all three of his previous matches against Djokovic, the Croat said he would enter the final with renewed confidence. Djokovic broke Soderling in the first game and after double faulting on deuce at 4-3, fired three consecutive aces to hold serve and went on to take the set. Soderling took a 2-0 lead in the second set before Djokovic broke back to level at 2-2. Djokovic broke Soderling's serve again at 4-3 and then served out the match with an ace. Tsonga-Youzhny final In Tokyo, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga powered to a quickfire 6-3, 6-3 win over fellow Frenchman Gael Monfils Saturday to reach the final of the Japan Open. Mikhail Youzhny stands between the world No. 7 and a third title of year after the Russian's 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 victory over eighth seed Lleyton Hewitt in the first semifinal. “I felt like I had so much power,” second seed Tsonga told reporters after hammering his close friend in less than an hour. “I was able to do anything I wanted. “The last time I felt like that was in Marseille at the beginning of the year,” added Tsonga, who has yet to secure a place in the season-ending World Tour Finals in London, exclusive to the world's top eight. “Tomorrow is going to be very tough. Youzhny has beaten some good players but I expect to play aggressive again.” More punishment for Serena Serena Williams is likely to discover whether she will be further punished for her outburst at a line judge at the US Open before the end of the year, WTA chief executive Stacey Allaster said Saturday. The Australian Open and Wimbledon champion was fined $10,000 for the verbal attack on the official during the semifinals at Flushing Meadow last month. The 28-year-old, however, still faces possible exclusion from future Grand Slam events after a further review by the Grand Slam Committee, which oversees the four major tournaments in tennis. The 11-time Grand Slam singles champion had no altercations with officials and said she had taken on board the lessons from the incident.
