Nishikori in Washington semis for 1st time by beating Groth

Determined to rebound from a nagging injury that forced him to withdraw early from Wimbledon, Kei Nishikori advanced to the semifinals of the Citi Open in Washington D.C. with a straight set victory over Sam Groth of Australia.

Croatian third seed Cilic, who faced a possible rematch with Nishikori in the semi-finals, outfought 32nd-ranked American Sam Querrey 7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (7/3) at the US Open hardcourt warm-up event.

Marin Cilic, of Croatia, returns the ball against Kei Nishikori, of Japan, at the Citi Open tennis tournament, Saturday, August 8, 2015, in Washington.

Getting his hard-court game in shape ahead of the U.S. Open, Kei Nishikori came back to beat big-serving John Isner 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 on Sunday for his first Citi Open title. “I had to concentrate again, but I played some good tennis too so it was a great win for me”.

In the third, #Nishikori did not let his foot off the gas, grabbing a break in the third game and holding serve to the finish line. “I’ve thrown a lot of pitches the last two weeks”.

In an all-American match, Isner smacked 31 aces and fended off three match points for a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (9) win over Steve Johnson in the second semifinal. After double-faulting away a break in the eighth game, Nishikori broke for a 5-4 lead and held for the triumph.

After creating another triple break chance in the ninth game of the second set, Nishikori secured a crucial break as world No. 35 Mayer dumped an unforced error into the net.

With his fifth ace, Cilic later served out the set 6-3.

“Congrats to him, he won last week and he’s been playing really well so I hope he can keep going”. I’m a more aggressive player than before.

“Overall I’m pretty satisfied with the way I was playing”, Cilic said. The first set was at a high quality and tight throughout, until Isner gave the last game everything he had to break. “I’ll get you next time, though”.

With the win, Isner advances to the quarter-finals against 86th-ranked Ricardas Berankis, who knocked off top-seeded Andy Murray on Wednesday.

And Nishikori made it clear he seeks a measure of revenge on Sunday (AEST) for Cilic denying his bid to become the first Asian man to win a Grand Slam title.

On a muggy day with barely a cloud in the sky and the temperature in the mid-80s, there were not many extended exchanges from the baseline, but when there were, Nishikori usually won the point.

Both players now head to Montreal as they continue their preparations for the US Open, which starts on 31 August.

On the women’s side, Australian second seed Samantha Stosur advanced when Romania’s Monica Niculescu retired with a left abdominal strain down 0-4.

But in the second set, Isner’s first-serve percentage dropped to 73 percent and Nishikori took advantage of Isner’s second serve, winning 72 percent of those points.