Rafael Nadal has reached the semi-finals of the Sony Ericsson Open following a three-sets victory over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Nadal applied pressure to Tsonga in the opening exchanges and was rewarded with an early break of serve before holding on for a tough service game of his own immediately afterwards.

Although he started improving in a number of areas after the early setback, Tsonga was only able to win one more game as Nadal comfortably sealed the first set 6-2.

Nadal carried his good form into the second set and despite first-serve struggles, he was able to break Tsonga once again to give him a vital advantage.

The Spaniard sensed that victory was near and started to produce his best tennis of the match, with his first serve percentages steadily rising.

Tsonga asked Nadal plenty of questions and broke the Spaniard to level the score at 5-5 before continuing impressively to take the second set 7-5.

In the final set both players battled for control and it was Nadal who secured the crucial break of serve and the second seed held on to take the final set 6-4.

Nadal's victory sets up a semi-final clash with Andy Murray following the Scot's victory over Janko Tisparevic.