Cilic beats Johnson to reach quarterfinals at Japan Open

Last week’s Kuala Lumpur semi-finalist now meets Benoit Paire, who knocked out Marcos Baghdatis 6-3, 2-6, 7-5.

Wawrinka finally ended Ito’s courageous resistance on his fourth match point after an hour and 42 minutes with a fizzing forehand down the line.

“It was a tough match and after losing to him a year ago, I am happy to have gotten through”, Wawrinka said.

Second seed Nishikoro, dazzling in canary-yellow shirt, headband and sneakers, struggled with a swirling wind in the early skirmishes before discovering his mojo in the first-set tiebreak, which he raced through 7-3.

The world number 14 did not lose a game on serve and claimed three breaks to come through his second-round match at the Ariake Coliseum in 73 minutes. “I tried to mix up my play in the third set to move him around more”.

He celebrated with a pump of the fist and a toothy grin at coach Michael Chang.

Cilic beat Nishikori in the final of the 2014 US Open but the Japanese player won their last meeting in the semi-finals of the Citi Open in August and owns a 6-3 record against the Croatian.

French third seed Gilles Simon advanced to the last eight with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic.

“It would be a great achievement but you need to be playing at a really high level”.

Sixth seed Marin Cilic defeated Steve Johnson in straights sets to book a quarter-final showdown with reigning champion Kei Nishikori at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships.

Qualifier Austin Krajicek, who is now No. 124 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, progressed to just his second ATP World Tour quarter-final by ousting Joao Sousa 2-6, 6-4, 6-3.