Saturday 25 April 2015 16:42, UK
Kei Nishikori can take a step closer to defending his Barcelona Open title when he faces Martin Klizan in Saturday’s semi-finals.
The top seed booked his place in the last four with a 6-2 3-6 6-1 win over Roberto Bautista Agut, further enhancing his status as one of the current top contenders on clay.
But Nishikori will not be looking past his Slovakian opponent, who inflicted a shock defeat on him at last year’s French Open.
Klizan claimed a convincing 7-6 6-1 6-2 victory over the world No 5 in the first round at Roland Garros.
Klizan secured his progress in Barcelona with a 7-6 6-4 win over Tommy Robredo, but he was visibly troubled by a wrist injury and he will hope he is fully fit against the in-form Nishikori.
The other semi-final is an all-Spanish affair, with third seed David Ferrer pitted against Pablo Andujar.
Ferrer produced a typically dogged display in his 6-3 7-6 victory over Philipp Kohlschreiber, while Andujar claimed a surprise 6-1 6-3 win over Fabio Fognini.
The Italian dumped out Rafael Nadal in the third round but let his standards slip against Andujar, who clinically secured his last-four spot with five breaks of serve.
He is likely to receive sterner resistance from Ferrer, who usually excels on the red dirt and improved on last week’s showing in Monte Carlo, where he was defeated in the quarters by Nadal.
Watch the semi-finals of the Barcelona Open this Saturday on Sky Sports 3 from 12.45pm.
