Washington: Wimbledon semi-finalist Milos Raonic and 2013 US Open semi-finalist Richard Gasquet advanced to the last four of the ATP and WTA Washington Open with straight-set triumphs Friday.
Canadian second seed Raonic fired 16 aces and lost only nine service points in defeating American Steve Johnson 7-6 (7/2), 6-2, taking only 79 minutes to book his third semi-final of the season.
“I’m getting better and better,” Raonic said. “I played the right way at the end of the sets. When I got the advantage, I kept the intensity.
“I’ve gotten better at knowing what I need to do. I step up in the tie-breakers and that has worked out well.”
Raonic, seeking his sixth ATP title, lost the Rome semi-final to top-ranked Novak Djokovic and at Wimbledon to 17-time Grand Slam winner Roger Federer.
Next up for Raonic is a first career meeting with 25-year-old US left-hander Donald Young, who outlasted South African seventh seed Kevin Anderson 3-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-2 to extend his best run in three years.
“He’s very talented and he’s very dangerous,” Raonic said. “He neutralises well. He defends well.”
French sixth seed Gasquet ripped Japanese fourth seed Kei Nishikori 6-1, 6-4 in only 59 minutes to reach the other semi-final, but he must wait to learn his opponent.
Canada’s Vasek Pospisil, who upset Czech top seed Tomas Berdych, and Colombia’s Santiago Giraldo had their quarter-final suspended by rain two points into the third set.
Giraldo won the first set 7-6 (7/4) while Pospisil took the second set 6-3 and the first two points of the third set on his serve before play was halted.
On the women’s side, Russian sixth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, the 2004 US Open and 2009 French Open champion, won by walkover when American Vania King withdrew with a right hip injury.
Kuznetsova, who made her first WTA final since 2011 just four months ago at Oeiras, has a semi-final date with Russian second seed Ekaterina Makarova, who ousted fifth-seeded compatriot Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-6 (7/3), 6-3.
Japan’s Kurumi Nara defeated France’s Kristina Mladenovic 6-3, 6-1 to reach a semi-final against New Zealand’s Marina Erakovic, who beat Serbian Bojana Jovanovski 6-4, 6-4.
