MOSCOW: US Open champion Marin Cilic cruised comfortably into the Kremlin Cup semi-finals with a confident 6-3, 6-3 victory over sixth-seed Tommy Robredo of Spain here on Friday.

In the match for a place in the final, Cilic will face Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan, who beat Mikhail Youzhny of Russia 1-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-0.

In the other semi-final Latvia’s third seed Ernesto Gulbis, who edged eighth seed Italian Andreas Seppi 7-6 (8-6), 4-6, 7-6 (7-3), will take on Spaniard Roberto Bautista-Agut, winner of a match with Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis 7-5, 6-3.

In the WTA section of the event the fourth seed Czech Lucie Safarova advanced into the last four with a straight-sets win 6-4, 7-5 over fifth-seeded local crowd’s favourite Svetlana Kuznetsova.

In the semi-final Safarova will meet Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu, who battled back from a set down to oust Bulgaria’s Tsvenana Pironkova 1-6, 6-3, 6-2.

In the other last four encounter Czech unheralded teenager Katerina Siniakova, who beat Italy’s Camila Georgi in a three-hour marathon 7-6 (7-3), 4-6, 7-5, will clash with sixth seeded Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, winner of a match against compatriot Vitalia Diatchennko 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.

Murray, Ferrer stay in the running

VIENNA: Andy Murray and David Ferrer tightened the duel for spots in the ATP year-end final with a pair of wins into the semi-finals of the Austrian Open on Friday.

Murray, seeded second and the heavy crowd favourite in his debut at Vienna’s Stadthalle, played it safe against German Jan-Lennard Struff in a 6-2, 7-5 win.

Spain’s top seed Ferrer limited the damage from the lethal serve of Ivo Karlovic as he defeated the sixth-seeded Croatian 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, holding Karlovic to 17 aces.

Murray will face Viktor Troicki, who beat Thomaz Bellucci 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (2-7), 6-2 while Ferrer will take on fourth seed Philipp Kohlschreiber, a winner over Benjamin Becker 6-4, 7-6 (7-3).

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2014