Summary Raonic and Gasquet advanced to last four of ATP and WTA Washington Open with straight-set triumphs.
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Wimbledon semi-finalist Milos Raonic and 2013 US Open semi-finalist Richard Gasquet advanced to the last four of the ATP and WTA Washington Open with straight-set triumphs Friday.
Canadian second seed Raonic fired 16 aces and lost only nine service points in defeating American Steve Johnson 7-6 (7/2), 6-2, taking only 79 minutes to book his third semi-final of the season.
"I m getting better and better," Raonic said. "I played the right way at the end of the sets. When I got the advantage I kept the intensity.
"I ve gotten better at knowing what I need to do. I step up in the tie-breakers and that has worked out well."
Raonic, seeking his sixth ATP title, lost the Rome semi-final to top-ranked Novak Djokovic and at Wimbledon to 17-time Grand Slam winner Roger Federer.
Next up for Raonic is a first career meeting with 25-year-old US left-hander Donald Young, who outlasted South African seventh seed Kevin Anderson 3-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-2, to extend his best run in three years.
"He s very talented and he s very dangerous," Raonic said. "He neutralizes well. He defends well."
French sixth seed Gasquet ripped Japanese fourth seed Kei Nishikori 6-1, 6-4 in only 59 minutes to reach the other semi-final, but he must wait until Saturday to learn his opponent.
Canada s Vasek Pospisil, who upset Czech top seed Tomas Berdych, and Colombia s Santiago Giraldo had their quarter-final suspended by rain two points into the third set.
Giraldo won the first set 7-6 (7/4) while Pospisil took the second set 6-3 and the first two points of the third set on his serve before play was halted.
Gasquet is 2-0 vs Giraldo, winning at Lyon in 2008 and in a 2011 Wimbledon opener, but lost his only match against Pospisil last year at Shanghai.
Gasquet, who improved to 5-0 against Nishikori, withdrew from Atlanta last week with a sore right arm, but fired nine aces and won all three break-point chances he created against 11th-ranked Nishikori.
"It s a big victory for me to win against him," Gasquet said.
Gasquet, nagged by a back injury earlier this season, reached his fourth semi-final of the year in quest of his 11th career title and first since last October at Moscow.
"I was stopped for about three months," Gasquet said. "It s difficult. The level is very high and you have lost your confidence. It s very important to keep your belief."
Nishikori connected on 62 percent of his first serves to 58 percent for Gasquet, but the Frenchman won 85 percent of his first-serve points to 64 percent for Nishikori.
- Disappointed Nishikori -
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"This is very disappointing," Nishikori said. "Didn t do anything. I could do better. Hopefully I ll play better next week."
Young s Washington run is his deepest since reaching his only ATP final in 2011 at Bangkok, where he lost to Britain s Andy Murray.
"I m just believing a little more. I m staying in the matches more, not tapping out," Young said. "I m still fighting and able to hang in there."
On the women s side, Russian sixth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, the 2004 US Open and 2009 French Open champion, won by walkover when American Vania King withdrew with a right hip injury.
Kuznetsova, who made her first WTA final since 2011 just four months ago at Oeiras, has a semi-final date with Russian second seed Ekaterina Makarova, who ousted fifth-seeded compatriot Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-6 (7/3), 6-3.
Japan s Kurumi Nara defeated France s Kristina Mladenovic 6-3, 6-1 to reach a semi-final against New Zealand s Marina Erakovic, who beat Serbian Bojana Jovanovski 6-4, 6-4.
