Summary The 25-year-old Asian number one rallied to oust the reigning US Open champion.
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Japan s Kei Nishikori avenged his loss to Marin Cilic in last year s US Open final, defeating the Croatian 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 Saturday to reach the ATP and WTA Washington Open final.
The 25-year-old Asian number one rallied to oust the reigning US Open champion and advanced to Sunday s title match against the winner of a later semi-final between Americans John Isner and Steve Johnson.
"It was a great win for me," Nishikori said. "Overall, I m playing well, very aggressive. The last two sets I was very happy with my tennis."
Fifth-ranked Nishikori improved to 6-3 in their all-time rivalry after having missed a chance to become the first Asian man to win a Grand Slam title when he fell to eighth-ranked Cilic in last year s Flushing Meadows championship match.
"It s great to have revenge," Nishikori said. "Today I was playing very much better against Cilic. It was important to play well. Hopefully I will keep it going."
Nishikori, seeking his 10th career title after crowns at Memphis and Barcelona this year, is the first Washington finalist from Asia since Thailand s Paradorn Srichaphan in 2002.
Despite the defeat, Cilic felt the week was a solid start on the path to defending his US Open crown.
"Overall I m pretty satisfied with the way I was playing," Cilic said. "Definitely it has given me some vision of what I m going to focus on the next days and weeks.
"In my next match I will try and be more focused on my serve, to be more deadly."
On the women s side, Russia s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova advanced 4-6, 6-3 when top-seeded compatriot Ekaterina Makarova retired. Pavlyuchenkova, the 2012 Washington runner-up, advanced to Sunday s final against the later winner between Australian second seed Samantha Stosur and American Sloane Stephens.
Cilic broke Nishikori in the second game of the match and jumped ahead 3-0 in the first 10 minutes. Nishikori missed two break chances in the fifth game and Cilic took the first set after 35 minutes.
"The first set I was playing extremely well," Cilic said. "In the second, Kei played a couple of points really good to break me and change the momentum of the match."
Nishikori bounces back
Nishikori roared back in the second set. Cilic sent a backhand wide to surrender a break in the second game.
Nishikori broke again in the fourth and battled to hold to 5-0 in the 10-minute fifth game, three times denying Cilic on break points as he forced a third set.
Nishikori broke Cilic to open the final set but double-faulted away a break in the eighth game that pulled the Croatian level at 4-4.
The Japanese star responded by breaking Cilic again for a 5-4 lead and holding serve to end matters after two hours and two minutes.
"It was tough. He was playing good at the beginning and I didn t start well," said Nishikori. "I started to hit a little more aggressively in the second set. I had to change mentally a little bit. The third set he came back and I had to concentrate again."
Nishikori is 3-0 all-time against Johnson but lost to Isner this year in a Miami quarter-final in their only meeting.
Isner, who won last week s Atlanta crown for the third year in a row, seeks his 11th career ATP title while Johnson hopes to reach his first final.
Johnson won their first meeting in last year s second round at Washington but Isner has beaten him since at Shanghai, Monte Carlo and Nice.
