Japan's Kei Nishikori saved five match points to down Gael Monfils on Thursday and advance into a semi-final showdown with Australian Nick Kyrgios at the ATP and WTA Miami Open. Two-time Grand Slam champions Victoria Azarenka and Svetlana Kuznetsova reached the women's final with straight-set triumphs, but the top drama came in sixth seed Nishikori's 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/3) victory over the French 16th seed. Nishikori denied Monfils four times in the 10th game of the final set and again in the 12th before taking the last three tie-breaker points to end a tension-packed thriller after two hours and 29 minutes.
"I thought, 'That's it. It's going to be tough to come back,'" Nishikori said. "But I tried to play one good point at a time. I had to focus to come back and I did it." Nishikori, the 2014 US Open runner-up, will play Friday for a berth in Sunday's final against 24th seed Kyrgios, who ousted Canadian 12th seed Milos Raonic 6-4, 7-6 (7/4). "I have to return well whenever possible to get on his serve," Nishikori said. "That's going to be the key for sure."
Kyrgios, at 20, will become the youngest player in the world top 20 since 2009 on Monday. "It's pretty cool. I'm happy with that," Kyrgios said. "But there's 19 guys in front of me." Coming off his first ATP title in February at Marseille, Kyrgios is into his first ATP Masters Series semi-final but must face a veteran in Nishikori, who won their only prior meeting last year in Shanghai.
"It's exciting to play one of the best players in the world," Kyrgios said. "He has got an unbelievable return of serve, moves unbelievably fast. It's going to be a tough match." Top-ranked defending champion Novak Djokovic of Serbia plays Belgian 15th seed David Goffin in the other semi-final. Azarenka, the 2012 and 2013 Australian Open champion from Belarus, defeated reigning Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber of Germany 6-2, 7-5, while Russian 30-year-old Kuznetsova, the 2004 US Open and 2009 French Open champion, beat Swiss 19th seed Timea Bacsinszky 7-5, 6-3. "It's a final so anything can happen. It's a match where you give it all," Azarenka said. "She is such a talented player. It's going to be a challenge but I'm ready for it."
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