By Erik Gudris | Saturday, October 4, 2014

 

Milos Raonic will face Japan's Kei Nishikori on his home court when they meet in the Tokyo final.

Photo Credit: AP

When top seeds fell early at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo, many hoped Kei Nishikori and Milos Raonic would survive to reach the final. Both men did just that, in in different ways, during Friday's semifinals.

Raonic dominated early during his semi against France's Gilles Simon. After Raonic ran away with the opening set, rain forced the arena roof to be closed causing a delay. Raonic would soon close out the 6-1, 6-4 win to reach his third straight Tokyo final.

"I believe it’s the best I have played all week," Raonic said to ATP.com. "I executed well and I had a clear vision of what I need to do, so I was making the right shot selections.

Nishikori though had the local Japanese fans on the edge of their seats for most of his semifinal against the surprise of the event in Germany's Benjamin Becker.

With Japan's No. 1 looking out of sorts early, Becker seized the first set 6-4. Momentum soon shifted in favor of Nishikori who dropped only 11 points in the second set without dropping a game.

As each man received treatment before the start of the third set, the outcome looked uncertain. Nishikori delighted fans midway through the set with a forehand winner that gave him a 4-2 lead. That advantage evaporated though as things went into a fateful deciding tiebreak.

Soon, Nishikori prevailed 4-6, 6-0, 7-6(2) giving him a shot at his second Tokyo title. Nishikori beat Ranoic in the 2012 final to win his home event.

"I experienced nerves so I tried to focus on my first serve, because he was serving bombs," Nishikori later said. "They were tough to return. In the tie-break anything can happen and I got lucky."