<p class="title">Kei Nishikori continued his unbeaten debut week at the Rotterdam Open with a 6-3, 6-2 defeat of Hungary's Marton Fucsovics on Friday to reach the semifinals on the back of a performance he described as "almost perfect".</p>.<p class="bodytext">The Japanese top seed set up a semifinal with treble Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka, who had his troubles before putting away Canadian Denis Shapovalov 6-4, 7-6 (7/4).</p>.<p class="bodytext">Nishikori won his 11th match of the season as he controlled Fucsovics in their first career meeting.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Asia's top player began the year with a 12th career title in Brisbane before suffering his only 2019 loss at the Australian Open against Novak Djokovic in an injury-hit quarterfinal exit.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Fucsovics arrived in the Dutch port city after playing the Sofia final last weekend.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"This is one of the best that I've played, the second set was almost perfect," Nishikori said. "I feel like I'm improving with each match. I was making almost every ball."</p>.<p class="bodytext">Wawrinka leads the series with Nishikori 5-4, winning their last match in August at Cincinnati.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Stan is a very good player, I'm glad to see him back from injury," Nishikori said. "I hope we can have a good match. He's got a great backhand and plays very aggressive, it will be tough."</p>.<p class="bodytext">Wawrinka, the 2015 champion in Rotterdam, was broken while serving for the match against Shapovalov, leading a set and 5-4.</p>.<p class="bodytext">As the set went into a tiebreaker, his resistance stiffened, with Wawrinka running out the winner on his second match point as the Canadian drove long.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I feel relieved, happy, I was playing great," said the veteran Swiss.</p>.<p class="bodytext"> "I couldn't find a way to close out the match, he started playing better. He was more aggressive and I was giving him too much time.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"But I'm happy to be in the semifinals. There were a lot of tough and long rallies in the tiebreaker."</p>.<p class="bodytext">Daniil Medvedev ended Jo-Wilfried Tsonga's seven-match win streak when the Russian triumphed 6-4, 6-2.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Tsonga, ranked a lowly 140 after 2018 knee surgery, had been on a roll in the Dutch port city, following his title victory last week in Montpellier.</p>.<p class="bodytext">But fifth seed Medvedev arrived in Rotterdam buoyed by a title of his own after lifting the Sofia trophy five days ago.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Medvedev outlasted 33-year-old Tsonga in a 90-minute struggle to reach the semifinals and a meeting with Gael Monfils.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The French showman took 69 minutes to advance to his second straight semifinal of the season with his 6-1, 6-2 thrashing of Bosnian Damir Dzumhur.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Medvedev improved to 14-2 this season after advancing with seven aces and saving both break points he faced against Tsonga who suffered only his third loss of 2019.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The match felt strange, I don't think I was playing that well," said the beanpole Russian.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Jo was probably not happy with his level, but that is normal. We've both played a lot of matches (in recent weeks). I'm just happy I managed to win today."</p>.<p class="bodytext">Monfils finished runner-up in Rotterdam 2016 to Martin Klizan and lost to Rafael Nadal in the 2009 title match at the Ahoy Arena.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Dzumhur had beaten third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in the opening round.</p>.<p class="bodytext">After going down to Medvedev last week in the Sofia semifinals, Monfils knows his priorities for Saturday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I'd like to take a bit of revenge," he said.</p>
<p class="title">Kei Nishikori continued his unbeaten debut week at the Rotterdam Open with a 6-3, 6-2 defeat of Hungary's Marton Fucsovics on Friday to reach the semifinals on the back of a performance he described as "almost perfect".</p>.<p class="bodytext">The Japanese top seed set up a semifinal with treble Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka, who had his troubles before putting away Canadian Denis Shapovalov 6-4, 7-6 (7/4).</p>.<p class="bodytext">Nishikori won his 11th match of the season as he controlled Fucsovics in their first career meeting.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Asia's top player began the year with a 12th career title in Brisbane before suffering his only 2019 loss at the Australian Open against Novak Djokovic in an injury-hit quarterfinal exit.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Fucsovics arrived in the Dutch port city after playing the Sofia final last weekend.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"This is one of the best that I've played, the second set was almost perfect," Nishikori said. "I feel like I'm improving with each match. I was making almost every ball."</p>.<p class="bodytext">Wawrinka leads the series with Nishikori 5-4, winning their last match in August at Cincinnati.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Stan is a very good player, I'm glad to see him back from injury," Nishikori said. "I hope we can have a good match. He's got a great backhand and plays very aggressive, it will be tough."</p>.<p class="bodytext">Wawrinka, the 2015 champion in Rotterdam, was broken while serving for the match against Shapovalov, leading a set and 5-4.</p>.<p class="bodytext">As the set went into a tiebreaker, his resistance stiffened, with Wawrinka running out the winner on his second match point as the Canadian drove long.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I feel relieved, happy, I was playing great," said the veteran Swiss.</p>.<p class="bodytext"> "I couldn't find a way to close out the match, he started playing better. He was more aggressive and I was giving him too much time.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"But I'm happy to be in the semifinals. There were a lot of tough and long rallies in the tiebreaker."</p>.<p class="bodytext">Daniil Medvedev ended Jo-Wilfried Tsonga's seven-match win streak when the Russian triumphed 6-4, 6-2.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Tsonga, ranked a lowly 140 after 2018 knee surgery, had been on a roll in the Dutch port city, following his title victory last week in Montpellier.</p>.<p class="bodytext">But fifth seed Medvedev arrived in Rotterdam buoyed by a title of his own after lifting the Sofia trophy five days ago.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Medvedev outlasted 33-year-old Tsonga in a 90-minute struggle to reach the semifinals and a meeting with Gael Monfils.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The French showman took 69 minutes to advance to his second straight semifinal of the season with his 6-1, 6-2 thrashing of Bosnian Damir Dzumhur.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Medvedev improved to 14-2 this season after advancing with seven aces and saving both break points he faced against Tsonga who suffered only his third loss of 2019.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The match felt strange, I don't think I was playing that well," said the beanpole Russian.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Jo was probably not happy with his level, but that is normal. We've both played a lot of matches (in recent weeks). I'm just happy I managed to win today."</p>.<p class="bodytext">Monfils finished runner-up in Rotterdam 2016 to Martin Klizan and lost to Rafael Nadal in the 2009 title match at the Ahoy Arena.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Dzumhur had beaten third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in the opening round.</p>.<p class="bodytext">After going down to Medvedev last week in the Sofia semifinals, Monfils knows his priorities for Saturday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I'd like to take a bit of revenge," he said.</p>