Nishikori Reaches First ATP World Tour Masters 1000 SF

© Getty ImagesKei Nishikori will be looking to reach his second ATP World Tour final of the year. In April, he finished runner-up in Houston.

Kei Nishikori, already projected to become the highest-ranked Japanese player in the Open Era, advanced to his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 semi-final on Friday.

The 21-year-old Nishikori withstood nine aces from the racquet of 12th seed Alexandr Dolgopolov of the Ukraine and saved six of seven break points for a 6-4, 6-3 victory at the Shanghai Rolex Masters.

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"I feel like home here," said Nishikori, who was the Houston runner-up in April. "It means a lot to play semis here. I'm really excited now. I think I started well today. I knew he [was] going to hit a lot of slice and I have to be careful. I was trying to not go for too much, just try to [be] steady on the court, and that worked."

Nishikori is set to rise from his current mark of No. 47 in the South African Airways 2011 ATP Rankings to around No. 32 on Monday. Nishikori previously equalled Shuzo Matsuoka's (6 July 1992) career-high of World No. 46 on 2 May.

Asked about his status in Japan, Nishikori admitted, "It is special feeling when I go back to Japan. The people sometimes [recognise] me when I walk in the street. I really enjoying how the life is going on.

"I think baseball and soccer is one of biggest sports in Japan. But I think tennis is getting better in the [past] two, three years. A lot of kids playing [have] started playing. Me and Kimiko Date came back. Tennis is getting more popular now."

Dolgopolov, 22, is one of the most improved players on the ATP World Tour this season. He was appearing in his ninth quarter-final (or better) and has a 37-25 match record. He lifted his first title on 31 July at the ATP Studena Croatia Open in Umag (d. Cilic) and was runner-up at the Brasil Open in Costa do Sauipe (l. to Almagro).

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