Gilles Simon stopped sixth seeded Tomas Berdych's run while Feliciano Lopez continued his winning streak at the Shanghai Rolex Masters in Beijing on Friday.

Both Simon and Berdych started out strong in the first set with both not letting up on their serves to force the set into a tie-break with the Frenchman ending out on top 7-4 but the recent China Open finalist broke Simon once in the second set to even the match one set apiece.

Like Us on Facebook

The third and deciding set was a shocker as the Simon shut out the 29-year-old Czech to advance to the semifinals of the Masters 1000 event after almost two years of absence 7(7)-6(4) 6-4 6-0 in a match that lasted just under two and a half hours.

"I'm finding a better rhythm," Simon said. "I feel also physically stronger. I think I almost played the perfect match today. I'm just happy that I won the fight."

Berdych is currently in seventh place in the eight-man short list of the season-ending WTA World Tour Finals and will be participating at the Stockholm Open next week where he is top seed and second seeded Grigor Dimitrov is the defending champion.

Simon, who defeated fourth seeded Stan Wawrinka in the second round, will now face surprise semifinalist Lopez who defeated Russian Mikhail Youzhny.

The 33-year-old Spaniard was broken late in the first set to put his back on the wall but came rushing back with a break of his own in the second set to level the match at 1-all.

Lopez broke Youzhny early in the deciding set to take the lead 4-1 and had an opportunity to serve out for the match at 5-3 but the Russian thwarted his attempt.

Youzhny seemed to be on track to level the set as he served while down 4-5 but Lopez would not be denied of his third semifinal appearance in the tournament as he broke the Russian to seal his fate 5-7 6-4 6-4.

"It's a great feeling to be in the semis of a Masters 1000," Lopez said. "I always played some of my best tennis, especially here. It's the third time that I'm going to be in the semis."

TagsGilles Simon, Tomas Berdych, Grigor Dimitrov, Feliciano Lopez