Beijing, Tokyo: Rafael Nadal stared down his nemesis Fabio Fognini on Saturday with a spirited 7-5, 6-3 victory to reach the China Open final and set up a shot at a redemptive title in Beijing.

Nadal has lost three times to Fognini this year, including at last month’s US Open, but he redressed the balance with a tight win and will now play Novak Djokovic or David Ferrer for the trophy.

The 14-time Grand Slam winner has been far from his best this year but he was clearly buoyed by the victory as he ripped off his bandana and saluted the crowd in the Chinese capital.

On a chilly, breezy day, both players started unconvincingly, suffering two breaks of serve each in the opening games with Nadal also sending down three double-faults.

They steadied to take it to 6-5 for Nadal but Fognini wobbled as he served to stay in the set, wilting in the rallies as he finally gave up the decisive break and smashed the ball into the stands in anger.

The second set was attritional until Nadal leapt ahead with a break for 4-2, and the suddenly invigorated Spaniard won the next game to love to stand on the brink of victory.

Fognini saved two match points before holding serve in a gripping eighth game, but by now the Nadal juggernaut was fully in motion and he ploughed across the line in the next game.

In Sunday’s final, Nadal will be seeking his fourth trophy of a season in which he has failed to win a Grand Slam title for the first time since 2004 and has seen his ranking drop to eighth.

In Tokyo, lightning struck twice for Kei Nishikori as the defending Japan Open champion was ambushed by “shoeless” Frenchman Benoit Paire in an explosive semi-final.

Paire, playing in a pair of badly torn sneakers following a forlorn dash to buy some new ones, won a nail-biter 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 to prove his first-round win over Nishikori at the US Open six weeks ago was no fluke.

Top seed Stan Wawrinka awaits his close friend in Sunday’s Tokyo final after the French Open champion produced a clinical 6-4, 7-6 win over Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller.

Nishikori’s bid for a third Japan Open crown in four years came to a shuddering halt as Paire roared back from dropping a whirlwind first set in just 20 minutes.

“One minute he was missing, the next he wasn’t,” shrugged Nishikori, at a loss to explain his collapse. “I started well but when he lifted his game, I didn’t seem to be able to cope.”

His tattered shoes held together with medical tape and with only one spare racquet in his kit bag, Paire levelled the match by ripping a backhand down the line, celebrating with a gunslinger’s pose as the crowd fell silent.

The bearded Frenchman broke early in the decider and the world number 32 fought off a late salvo from Nishikori to complete the coup de grace after one hour and 48 minutes with a massive forehand into the corner.

“He suddenly started hitting some great shots,” conceded Nishikori. “You have to give him credit for the quality of his play. He’s a very difficult opponent.”