Hangzhou Open: Marin Cilic saves matchpoints to reach semis
The Croat will play American Brandon Nakashima, the No 4 seed, in the next round
Croat wildcard Marin Cilic edged out Japanese qualifier Yasutaka Uchiyama 6-2, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (5) to advance to the last four of the Hangzhou Open on Sunday.
The Croatian fought back from 5-3 down in the final set and also saved two matchpoints in the 12th game before winning in a third set tiebreaker.
Cilic will play American Brandon Nakashima, the No 4 seed, next at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center.
This is the 67th tour-level semi-final for Cilic and the 43rd on hard courts.
The 35-year-old Croat won against American Zachary Svajda (5-7, 6-3, 6-0) and Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka, the No 8 seed (6-4, 6-1) in the previous rounds of the tournament.
Earlier in the week, Uchiyama, ranked No 160, defeated Australian lucky loser James McCabe (6-4, 6-4) and Dane Holger Rune, the top seed (7-5, 6-4).
Hangzhou ATP 250, other quarter-finals results (Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center, hard, USD 1,000,630):
- Brandon Nakashima beat Rinky Hijikata: 7-5, 6-3
- Zhizhen Zhang vs. Roberto Carballes Baena
- Mikhail Kukushkin vs. Yunchaokete Bu