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Nishikori moves closer to title

Nishikori moves closer to title

By Agence France Presse

Kei Nishikori of Japan, reaches for the ball against John Isner during their men's singles final at the Citi Open tennis tournament, on Sunday. Photo: AP

Washington, February 13 Top seed Kei Nishikori moved closer to a fourth straight ATP Memphis title on Friday, saving all five break points he faced in a 6-2, 6-4 quarter-final victory over Mikhail Kukushkin. Japan’s world No 7, who has now won all five of his meetings with Kazakhstan’s Kukushkin, reached his first ATP semi-final since Tokyo in October. He’ll face fourth-seeded American Sam Querrey in a rematch of their semi-final clash here last year. Querrey ended dream run of Japanese qualifier Yoshihito Nishioka 6-3, 6-4. Although he emerged with the straight-sets win, Querrey said it wasn’t easy against the Japanese left-hander. “We had a lot of close games, it was a tough match,” said Querrey, who served up 11 aces and saved both break points he faced to win in 72 minutes — ending Nishioka’s dream of facing compatriot Nishikori. Ricardas Berankis, ranked 102nd in the world, advanced with a 7-6 (7/3), 6-1 win over American Donald Young. “Maybe it wasn’t Young’s best day today,” said Berankis, who reached his second career ATP semi-final. “He didn’t really have a plan B and thought I would put myself in trouble with fast shots and mistakes, but it didn’t work out for him.”