Marin Cilic continued his comeback from injury, fighting off two match points to defeat Yasutaka Uchiyama of Japan 6-2, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (5) on Sunday to reach the semifinals of the Hangzhou Open in China.
Cilic, 35, advanced to his 67th career semifinal after saving eight of nine break points, as well, as he seeks his 21st ATP Tour title.
The Croatian will take on fourth-seeded Brandon Nakashima in the semifinals after the American defeated Rinky Hijikata of Australia 7-5, 6-3.
An all-Chinese match — the first in an ATP Tour semifinal in the Open Era — also awaits. Sixth-seeded Zhizhen Zhang topped Spain’s Roberto Carballes Baena 6-3, 6-3, and he will square off against wild card Yunchaokete Bu, a wild card who defeated Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan 6-4, 6-2.
Chengdu Open
Chinese teenager Juncheng Shang upset second-seeded Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan 6-4, 7-6 (8) to move to the semifinals of his home-country tournament.
The 19-year-old is seeking his first tour title and will need to defeat Yannick Hanfmann of Germany in Monday’s semifinal to have a chance. Hanfmann topped Pedro Martinez of Spain 7-6 (1), 6-2 in the quarters.
Top seed Lorenzo Musetti of Italy knocked out Frenchman Adrian Mannarino 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 to set up a semifinal match with Alibek Kachmazov. The Russian upset Nicolas Jarry of Chile, the third seed, 6-3, 6-4 to move on.
–Field Level Media
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