Australian Mark Philippoussis battled his way to victory, defeating Guillermo Canas of Argentina 6-3 7-6 (7-4) to earn a place in the semi-finals of the $US380,000 ($A560,225) ATP tournament in Shanghai.

Evergreen Australian Wayne Arthurs earlier reached his first semi-final since February with a tough three-set win over Croatian Ivo Karlovic in Shanghai.

Arthurs overcame Karlovic - the famous first-round Wimbledon conqueror of Lleyton Hewitt - 6-4 3-6 7-6 (7-2).

Arthurs, 32, will meet top seed Jiri Novak for a place in the final after the Czech advanced when Swede Magnus Norman retired injured trailing 2-1 in the first set.

Arthurs is continuing the good form he displayed in Australia's Davis Cup semi-final win over Switzerland last weekend.

The big-serving left-hander was the star of Australia's pivotal doubles victory over Roger Federer and Marc Rosset.

Arthurs last reached the semi-finals of a singles event in Copenhagen seven months ago.

Third seed Philippoussis overpowered the hard-hitting Canas with his booming serve, as the ATP 15th rank failed to capitalise on numerous break opportunities in the second set that would have forced the match to a third set.

Ahead 5-4 in the second set, Canas let three-break points slip away to help the Wimbledon finalist towards the deciding tiebreaker.

"I'm happy with the way I played. I think I could have done a couple of things a bit better, but I'm happy with the way I served," Philippoussis said.

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