China Open: Nadal makes final, Halep claims top WTA spot

Rafael Nadal in action against Grigor Dimitrov during their man's singles semifinal match at the China Open tennis tournament on October 7th, 2017. Nadal gets past Dimitrov in three sets and lands a spot in the men's final. [Photo: Imagine China]

World number one Rafael Nadal is now set to take on Australian Nick Kyrgios in this Sunday's final at the China Open in Beijing.

Nadal is through after getting past Bulgarian Grigor in three sets on Saturday.

Nadal last won the China Open in 2005.

The world number-1 admits he's going to be in-tough if he hopes to secure his 75th career singles title in Beijing.

"Kyrgios is hard to beat. One and a half months ago, I lost to him in Cincinnati. The final will be tough. I must make sure I'm well prepared."

The women's final is also set, after Romanian Simona Halep cruised past Latvian Jelena Ostapenko in straight sets to earn her way into the final.

Regardless of how she fares against France's Caroline Garcia later on this Sunday, Halep is now going to be elevated to the top of the WTA rankings for the first time in her career.

"For sure it's the best day in my life. The dream is true now. And all the work that I had during this year, everything, every challenge and every desire. I'm really happy that I could do this. It's a magic day for me. I just want to enjoy it to the maximum."

Caroline Garcia is into the China Open final after getting past Czech veteran Petra Kvitova.

In other action from Saturday, it was the mainland's Peng Shuai and her partner, India's Sania Mirza, going down in the semi-finals of the women's double's event to Swiss veteran Martina Hingis and her partner, Chan Yung-jan from Taiwan.