Raonic stuns Murray in Japan Open semis; Nishikori prevails

Milos Raonic of Canada outsted top-seeded Andy Murray to move into the final of the Japan Open, edging the defending champion 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-4) on Saturday.

One more to go: Kei Nishikori lifts his arms in triumph after beating Marcos Baghdatis 6-2, 6-2 in the semifinals of the Japan Open on Saturday. AP

Raonic, seeded sixth and ranked 15th, will meet Kei Nishikori in Sunday's final after he routed unseeded Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus 6-2, 6-2 in just over one hour.

Nishikori, ranked 17th, defeated Baghdatis for the first time after having lost three previous matches to the Cypriot.

Nishikori and Raonic will play for the first time in the final, with the Japanese seeking his first title of the season.

Nishikori is the first Japanese to advance to the final since the event was sanctioned by the ATP in 1973.

"I can't believe it, to be honest," said Nishikori, who lost in the first round the last two years. "I haven't had great results here and I was struggling up until now."

"Playing in Japan means a lot to me. I don't think I've ever been this happy in my career. Winning a title in Japan has always been a career goal of mine."

Eighth seed Nishikori was in control from start to finish on this day.

He broke Baghdatis, once ranked eighth in the world, in the third game to take a 2-1 lead and won another break point at 5-2 to win the first set.

In the second set, Nishikori jumped out to a 4-0 lead and never looked back to move into his first final of the year. Nishikori said his returns will be key against Raonic, who he will play for the first time.

"I think he has the best serve on the tour," Nishikori said. "Murray has the best return on the tour, but even he still won only 18 percent of points on the first serve."

Playing under a blazing sun at Ariake Colosseum, the big-hitting Raonic broke Murray in the opening game of the match, then used his strong serve and powerful forehand to go up 5-3, before breaking again to claim the set 6-3.

The Olympic champion looked sluggish from the outset and had to save two break points to hold serve for 1-1 in the second set.

After Raonic held to go up 3-2, a frustrated Murray broke his racket by smashing it on the court.

The were no breaks of serve in the second set, and the contest proceeded to a tiebreak, where Raonic misplayed a volley to give Murray a 6-5 lead and then couldn't handle a Murray forehand that gave him the tiebreak 7-5, squaring the contest.

Murray turned the tide in his favor in the third set by breaking Raonic with a sublime backhand down the line to move ahead 3-1. Murray made it 4-1 on serve and looked to be in control, only to see Raonic break back for 4-3 and then hold for 4-4.

Murray held to go up 5-4 and then had two match points on Raonic's served in the 10th game, but could not capitalize as the Canadian held to send it to another tiebreak.

Raonic took control in the tiebreak and finished it 7-5.

"Live and die by the serve. I'm not afraid to go for it on my second serve. I know what I am capable of," Raonic said.

Murray and Raonic had split their two previous career meetings, both this year. Raonic beat Murray on clay at the Barcelona Open, while Murray knocked Raonic out of the U.S. Open in the fourth round.

"The first set was poor from my side," said Murray. "I played better in the second and third sets, but it was a disappointment not to close out the match. It came down to one or two points in the end."

BEIJING — Zhang Ze said he took inspiration from Grand Slam-winner Li Na after a record-breaking run which raised hopes that China's struggling men could finally emerge from the shadows of their female tennis stars.

In control: Kei Nishikori plays a return against Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis in Saturday's Japan Open semifinals. Nishikori won 6-2, 6-2. KYODO

The world No. 165 made history this week when he became the first Chinese man ever to beat a top-20 player, with a three-set win over Richard Gasquet that put him into the quarterfinals of the China Open.

His defeat of the Frenchman, ranked 14th, also meant China's top player has gotten further in an ATP tournament than any other Chinese man in 17 years, after Pan Bing made the Seoul semifinals in 1995.

After his campaign was halted by Florian Mayer on Friday, the 22-year-old right-hander from Nanjing was quick to name 2011 French Open champion Li, Asia's only singles Grand Slam winner, as his guiding light.

"Li Na is our example, as a role (model)," he said, adding that his next goal was to become the first Chinese man to break into the top 100.

View the original article here