ROME, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Undisputed clay court king Rafael Nadal suffered a straight-set loss to Argentina's Diego Schwartzman in the quarterfinals of the Italian Open on Saturday.
Nadal, seeded second, lost 6-2, 7-5 to eighth-seeded Schwartzman, who will next play 12th seed Denis Shapovalov of Canada for a spot in the final.
Top seed Djokovic labored for two hours to win 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 against German qualifier Dominik Koepfer.
The 33-year-old Serb now faces a semifinal against Casper Ruud of Norway, who beat fourth seed Matteo Berrettini of Italy 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5).
In the women's tournament, Simona Halep advanced to the semifinals after Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva retired with the scores at 6-2, 2-0. She is to meet ninth-seeded Garbine Muguruza of Spain, who beat former number one Victoria Arazenka.
Defending champion Karolina Pliskova, the second seed, will play fellow Czech Marketa Vondrousova in the other semifinal. Enditem