By Alberto Amalfi | Friday, October 2, 2015

 

David Ferrer did not drop serve defeating Mikhail Kukushkin to set up a Kuala Lumpur semifinal against Benjamin Becker.

Photo credit: Malaysian Open

The Kuala Lumpur semifinals feature a Spanish flavor.

Top-seeded David Ferrer did not drop serve defeating Mikhail Kukushkin, 6-3, 6-4, today to set up a veteran's day semifinal.

Video: Dimitrov, Sousa Sparkle in Kuala Lumpur

The 33-year-old Ferrer will face 34-year-old Benjamin Becker for a spot in the Malaysian Open final.

Becker beat fourth-seeded Grigor Dimitrov, 6-4, 7-6 (3), to power into his first semifinal of the season.

The 74th-ranked German defeated Dimitrov for the third time in as many meetings; their prior clashes both came six years ago at the Challenger level.

Though Dimitrov produced some dazzling shot-making, including a tweener and over the shoulder slice overhead in the tie break, Becker was simply too tough. He saved three of four break points in the match and used a couple of perfectly-placed lobs to surprise the Bulgarian in the breaker.

In a battle of big servers, Nick Kyrgios hit 11 aces squeezing by ATP ace-leader Ivo Karlovic, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (2), in a match devoid of service breaks. Karlovic cracked 13 aces and now trails fellow Croatian Goran Ivanisevic by 35 aces for the most aces in ATP World Tour history. Ivanisevic hit 10,237 aces in 895 career matches; Karlovic has hit 10,202 aces in 534 matches.

The seventh-seeded Kyrgios has not surrendered serve in three tournament wins. The 20-year-old Aussie will face another explosive server, Feliciano Lopez, for a place in Sunday's final.

The second-seeded Spaniard rallied for a 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-2 victory over eighth-seeded Vasek Pospisil. The left-handed Lopez permitted just four points on serve in the decisive set sealing the win in two hours.

The 34-year-old Lopez, who reached the US Open quarterfinals last month, advanced to his third semifinal of 2015.