By Erik Gudris | Friday, February 14, 2014

 

Michael Russell finally got his first win over Lleyton Hewitt to reach the semifinals. Defending champion and top seed Kei Nishikori survived three sets to also advance in Memphis.

Photo Credit: AP

Michael Russell overcame some tense moments in the second set to finally get his first ever win over Australia's Lleyton Hewitt at the U.S. National Indoor Tennis Championships in Memphis.

After closing out the first set in convincing fashion 6-3, Russell found himself battling in the second. Russell broke Hewitt and soon served for the match up 5-4. But Russell tossed in two double faults to allow Hewitt back into the set at 5-all. The second set soon entered a tiebreak with Russell holding several match points.

Russell finally found a way to close out the 6-3, 7-6(6) victory.

Memphis is now the third career ATP semifinal for Russell and his first since Newport in 2013.

Next up is defending champion and top seed Kei Nishikori who also was forced to battle in his quest to defend the title.

Alex Bogomolov, Jr. of Russia claimed the first set against Nishikori 6-3 in their quarterfinal. But Nishikori took hold of the second set and saved all four break points against him in the final set to secure a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win.

“It wasn’t easy today. My tennis level is not quite 100 per cent yet, so I hope I can get better. I have a lot of confidence and my goal is to win the tournament," Nishikori said later to ATP.com

Yen-Hsun Lu joined the final four later in the afternoon by posting a 6-1, 6-4 win over American qualifier Alex Kuznetsov.

Ivo Karlovic and Jack Sock play later this evening to decide the final semifinal spot.