Fourth seed Rafa Nadal survived a few anxious moments before booking his place in the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open with a see-sawing 6-4, 6-3 victory over Japanese Kei Nishikori in California on Friday.

The Spanish left-hander, a three-times champion at Indian Wells, will next meet top-seeded Serb Novak Djokovic, who battled past Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6(2), 7-6(2) in the last of the quarterfinals.

Djokovic, the world number one and defending champion, improved his stellar record for the year to 20-1 as he seeks a fifth title at Indian Wells.

Nadal fought back from 1-3 down and 15-40 on serve in the opening set, then held off a late fightback by Nishikori in the second to prevail after a little more than an hour and a half at the sun-baked Indian Wells Tennis Garden. "The first set was very important," 14-times grand slam winner Nadal said in a courtside interview with ESPN. "At 15-40 for one double break for him, that was the key moment and after that I started to play with higher balls, slower balls.

"I changed a little bit the rhythm of the match and I think I played well."

After leveling at 4-4 in the first set, Nadal won the next five games to take command before his fifth-seeded opponent clawed his way back with a break in the seventh to trail 3-4.

Nadal, however, immediately regained his advantage in the eighth game after Nishikori netted a backhand, and the Spaniard served out for the victory, ending the match with a forehand winner down the line. 

On the women's half, Serena Williams overcame a sluggish start to forge past Agnieszka Radwanska 6-4, 7-6(1) to move into the final of the BNP Paribas Open on Friday.

The world number one, who will play Victoria Azarenka for the title, was 4-2 down in the opening set and not moving freely in the semifinal at Indian Wells.

However, after the American found her rhythm she claimed four straight games to take control of the set, she continued her run in the second to win the opening three games before her Polish opponent fought back.

Radwanska displayed the kind of tennis that will see her rise to number two in the world rankings on Monday, rallying to win the next three games to get the set back on serve.

The Pole even had a chance to win just her second career set against Williams when she broke the American to lead 6-5, but could not close out on serve.

Williams then snuffed out any hopes Radwanska had of claiming a first victory over the American, winning seven straight points to take the tiebreaker 7-1 and improve to 10-0 in their head-to-head battles.