TOKYO (Reuters) – French Open champion Stan Wawrinka sailed into the semi-finals of the Japan Open on Friday with a 6-3 6-4 win over American Austin Krajicek. Wawrinka, who has already won three titles this year including his second grand slam in Paris, needed just 50 minutes to defeat Krajicek . The Swiss will play Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller on Saturday after he upset French third seed Gilles Simon 6-3 6-4 in the quarter-finals. Kei Nishikori fought back to beat Marin Cilic 3-6 7-5 6-3 to record his second successive win against the player who beat him in last year’s U.S. Open final. Nishikori, who won his home tournament in 2012 and 2014, set up a showdown with Frenchman Benoit Paire for a place in Sunday’s final. Paire also from behind to defeat Australia’s Nick Kyrgios 3-6 6-4 6-1. (Writing by Julian Linden in Singapore, editing by Pritha Sarkar) 

Stan Wawrinka and Kei Nishikori sailed into the semi-finals of the Japan Open.

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Switzerland's Stan Wawrinka returns the ball to Austin Krajicek of the U.S.during their men's singles tennis match at the Japan Open championships in Tokyo

Wawrinka, Nishikori through to Japan Open semis

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Dhruv George is a senior Formula One and NASCAR analyst for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino. He has been an ardent follower of motorsports sport since 2001, holding Carlos Sainz Jr. and McLaren in high regard.