No sweat, Nadal makes the finals

SHANGHAI --- Rafael Nadal advanced to the Shanghai Masters final on Saturday after Feliciano Lopez became the ninth player to retire from the tournament.

The unseeded Lopez said he woke up with a right foot infection, and then twisted his right ankle on the last point of the first set. He was trailing 6-1, 3-0 when he retired.

The top-seeded Nadal will play in today's final against sixth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko, of Russia, who outlasted second-seeded Novak Djokovic, of Serbia, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (1).

"He's playing very well today," said Nadal, who holds a 4-2 advantage over Davydenko in their previous meetings. "He has a lot of rhythm, and he's playing with a lot of intensity. It's going to be a really tough match."

Nadal only lost four points in the five service games he played against Lopez in the semifinal, which he gained when Ivan Ljubicic, of Croatia, retired with a left hip injury.

The Spaniard is looking for his sixth title of the year, and the first since returning from an injury layoff to recover from knee tendinitis, which prevented him from defending his Wimbledon title. He also struggled with a stomach muscle injury at the U.S. Open.

"I'm in a final and that's very important," Nadal said. "It's my first final since I've been back and that's a good result for me."

Davydenko has won all three finals he has played this year, in Hamburg, Umag and the Kuala Lumpur tournament two weeks ago.

Japan Women's Open: In Osaka, Japan, Samantha Stosur earned another shot at winning her first WTA Tour singles title, reaching the final by upsetting defending champion Caroline Wozniacki, 6-0, 4-6, 6-4.

Stosur, the world's 15th-ranked player, has lost all five of her previous tour finals.

The third-seeded Australian will play for the title today against fourth-seeded Francesca Schiavone, of Italy.

Schiavone needed just 59 minutes for a 6-2, 6-1 win over India's Sania Mirza. The Italian is 1-9 in WTA finals.

Stosur had lost to Wozniacki in two previous meetings this year, but improved to 2-2 against the sixth-ranked player.

GENERALI LADIES: In Linz, Austria, the top two seeded players lost, leaving Yanina Wickmayer, of Belgium, and Petra Kvitova, of the Czech Republic, to play for the title.

No. 3 Wickmayer beat top-seeded Flavia Pennetta, of Italy, 7-6 (5), 6-3, and Kvitova upset second-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska, of Poland, 6-3, 6-2.

The 19-year-old Kvitova will play her second final of the season today. She won her maiden ATP Tour title in Hobart, Australia, in January. Wickmayer, who turns 20 Tuesday, captured her first title in Estoril, Portugal, in May.

Wickmayer beat Kvitova en route to the U.S. Open semifinals and leads the Czech 2-1 in career meetings.