TENNIS – Defending champion and top seed Kei Nishikori dropped the second set but he got through with a 6-2 3-6 6-1 win over seventh-seed Roberto Bautista Agut in one hour and 40 minutes. After Nishikori easily won the first set with 6-2, Bautista Agut bounced back clinching his first break of serve in the second set before saving three point chances in his final service game. He forced the match to the third set with two big serves. Diego Sampaolo
In the third set Bautista Agut held only a service game. Nishikori opened up a 3-1 lead before reeling of the final three games. The 2014 Barcelona champion won 20 points to 2 including the last 13 points of the match.
Nishikori fended off one of the two break points he faced and hit 25 winners.
Nishikori will face Marin Klizan who held off 2004 Barcelona champion Tommy Robredo 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 after 1 hour and 37 minutes. Kiizan, who won the Casablanca title earlier this month, fought off all the six break points he faced (five in the first set). Klizan stormed out to 6-0 in the tie-break of the first set but Robredo recovered winning five points but Klizan clinched the breaker with 7-5. Robredo earned only one break point chance in the second set. Klizan saved it and managed to hold his serve until the end and closed out the match with an ace.
Four-time Barcelona finalist David Ferrer saved five of the nine break points he faced in his 6-3 7-6 (7-5) win against German Phillip Kohlschreiber.
The first set featured five consecutive breaks in the first set. From the seventh game they held their serve until the tie-break of the second set.
Ferrer set up a semifinal against Pablo Andujar who upset Fabio Fognini 6-1 6-3. Andujar beat Fognini after three defeats in their previous head-to-head matches, including this year match in Rio de Janeiro where the Italian dropped just five games.
Fognini was broken three times in the first set where he won only 45 percent of his first serve points. In the second set Andujar broke serve in the fourth game but Fognini broke back to draw level to 3-3. Andujar got the decisive break in the 8th game
