Monte Carlo Masters
Croatia’s Marin Cilic serves to Japan’s Kei Nishikori during their quarterfinal match of the Monte Carlo Masters tournament Friday in Monaco. The unseeded Nishikori toppled the No. 2 seed to advance to the semifinals, where he will face No. 3 Alexander Zverev of Germany.
MONACO—Rafael Nadal’s bid for a record-extending 11th Monte Carlo Masters title is proving more comfortable than he imagined after his return from a right hip injury.
Others may not be so surprised, given how the topranked Spaniard won nine straight games while beating fifth-seeded Dominic Thiem 6-0, 6-2 to reach the semifinals on Friday.
Nadal will next face Grigor Dimitrov, who may prefer not to think too much about their head-to-head rivalry: 10-1 to Nadal.
The fourth- seeded Bulgarian beat No. 6 David Goffin 6-4, 7-6 (5) in an error-strewn match.
Kei Nishikori needed four match points to beat second-seeded Marin Cilic 6-4, 6-7 (1), 6-3.
Nishikori, feeling his way back into tennis after a right wrist injury deprived him of playing in the last two majors, served for the match at 5-4 in the second set. Cilic, the Australian Open runner-up when the Japanese player was still recovering from a torn tendon, saved three match points and then won the tiebreaker in style.
Nishikori plays No. 3 Alexander Zverev, who beat Richard Gasquet 4-6, 6-2, 7-5.
The sun had long gone when their match finished at nearly 9 p.m., delaying Zverev’s 21st birthday party.