In the tie-breaker, Cilic jumped ahead 6-1, double faulted, then blasted a service victor to win the set after 53 minutes, taking all 18 of his first serve points in the set.
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Nishikori, the first Japanese man to reach a Grand Slam final, improved to 42-9 this season. “They are so fast…it’s fun to play someone like him”.
“Emotions-wise, it’s going to be completely different”. On the heels of a fourth-round performance at the French Open and a quarterfinal run at Wimbledon, Cilic has not dropped a set in wins this week over Hyeon Chung, Sam Querrey, and Alexander Zverev.
“It’s good to win against a top 10 player and especially Marin”, the second-seeded Nishikori said. “Later in the third set we were both playing high quality tennis and I think it was a matter of few point that decided it. And overall I’m pretty satisfied with the performance and giving me some vision for next days and next week on what to be focused on”. “I think I have more patience and (am) a more solid baseline player and I try to be a little more aggressive than before”. Having left his mother at the age of 14 to move to the U.S., Nishikori said that he felt his mother’s support in “every way possible”.
“I’m going to have to play my game style”.
The other semi-final will be contested by eighth seed John Isner and his fellow American Steve Johnson. Cilic won the match 6-3, 6-3, 6-3. The American considers that performance his best this year. Kohlschrieiber, 31, who lives in the famous ski-resort town, picks up his sixth ATP title after he lost in the final at Munich earlier this year when he went down in three tough sets against British number one Andy Murray. He missed a chunk of time, including the Australian Open, because of an injured right shoulder. He knows which part of his game needs work. But Cilic couldn’t keep his momentum going as he threw in a poor game to hand the break back. Nishikori also consolidated his two breaks well, saving all four of his break points faced on the match. “When it was 145 or 147 [mph, 232 or 235 kph], even if I guessed, it was too fast, so it wasn’t easy to return”.
Groth delivered 20 aces in a 6-3, 6-4 victory over seventh-seeded Feliciano Lopez.
Stosur faces Sloane Stephens on Saturday.
Ivan Dodig, Croatia, and Marcelo Melo (2), Brazil, def. Marcin Matkowski, Poland, and Nenad Zimonjic (4), Serbia, 6-0, 6-4.
The other women’s semifinal will be No. 1-seeded Ekaterina Makarova against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Win or lose, Pliskova will push herself into the top-10 for the first time when the new rankings are released tomorrow.
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“I’m so excited to be back in the final here”, the eighth seed said.
