Wawrinka, Nishikori advance to Toronto semis

Toronto, July 30 (IANS) Swiss No. 2 seed Stan Wawrinka and Japanese No. 3 seed Kei Nishikori advanced to the semi-finals of the Rogers Cup in Toronto with respective victories over Kevin Anderson and Grigor Dimitrov here.

In Friday's quarter-final, Wawrinka brushed aside Anderson 6-1, 6-3, taking advantage of the South African's poor serving to cruise to victory in one hour and 13 minutes, reports Efe.

In the first set, Anderson put just 48 percent of his first serves in play, which proved costly as he won only 23 percent of his second-serve points and was broken three times.

The second set was more competitive, with Anderson making only 53 percent of his first serves but getting broken just once and creating two break-point chances against Wawrinka, who saved both of them.

"It was a really good match," Wawrinka was quoted as saying on the ATP World Tour's Web site. "I started really well from the first game. It showed me that I was ready, aggressive (and) moving really well."

"It's one of the best matches I have played this year, I think. I was calm, serving really good and mixing it up a lot," he added.

Next up for Wawrinka in Saturday's semi-finals will be Nishikori, who pulled away from Dimitrov in the third set for a 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 win.

--IANS

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