Murray will battle for the gold medal against either Spain’s Rafael Nadal or Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro in the Sunday final.
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On a day of stunning success for Britain, the Wimbledon champion came out on top of a brutal match, winning 7-5 4-6 6-2 7-5 after four hours and two minutes.
Murray can become the first player to defend an Olympic singles gold but he must get past Del Potro – who shocked world number one Novak Djokovic in the first round.
The result means Murray is now a two-time gold medallist in the men’s singles tennis, while del Potro has bronze and silver from London and Rio respectively.
Nishikori’s semifinal against Great Britain’s Andy Murray was much shorter, with the Briton winning 6-1, 6-4.
It appeared as though he had finally broken the will of the Argentinian beefcake when he breezed through the third set – his deflector-shield service return tends to do that to opponents in the end.
That, of course, was also the site of his historic 2013 Wimbledon championship, ending the hosts’ 77-year wait for a British man to claim the trophy.
Japan’s Kei Nishikori earlier beat Nadal 6-2 6-7 (1) 6-3 to clinch bronze.
Del Potro went into the semi-final trailing Nadal 8-4 in career meetings.
Del Potro, who was pushed to the brink of retirement previous year after undergoing the wrist surgeries, was slow out of the blocks.
For Murray, yet more history – the first man to ever retain the Olympic singles title.
But in a testament to a truly back-and-forth encounter, the Argentine called on his deepest energy reserves to fight back again, before Murray double faulted and netted a routine forehand, gifting Potro break point again which he dispatched cleanly with a fierce volley.
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The fourth set was a far closer affair, with both men struggling to hold serve. He passed up his first effort, but having been given a second chance in deuce, invited Del Portro into a baseline exchange before leaping forward and catching him off guard and sealing victory.
