No. 8 seed Nick Kyrgios has reached the China Open semi-finals. Australia's Kyrgios progressed in Beijing after a Steve Darcis retirement. The Australian had a 6-0 3-0 lead when Belgian Darcis was forced to retire the match.
Kyrgios, 22, converted his first break point of the match to open up a 2-0 lead. Two more breaks in the fourth and sixth game helped Kyrgios bagel qualifier Darcis in the opener. The qualifier had no game or break points during the set.
Kyrgios continued his run at the beginning of the second set. The Australian got off to a quick 3-0 lead.
The injured-Darcis avoided a potential humiliation by retiring the match after the third game.
Kyrgios fired 12 aces and won 16-of-17 of his first serve points against Darcis. The No. 8 seed converted 4-of-6 of his break point chances on Friday. The match came to an end after just a half an hour of play.
Kyrgios now has two wins and zero losses against Darcis. The two met for the first time ever just recently,. Kyrgios defeated Darcis in a Davis Cup rubber match this past September in Brussels.
Kyrgios plays Zverev next
Kyrgios is now set to meet fellow rising star Alexander Zverev. No. 2 seed Zverev saw off another promising player Alexander Rublev in the China Open quarter-finals, 6-2 6-3. Rublev, who stunned Czech Tomas Berdych on Thursday, just couldn't pull off back-to-back upsets.
Zverev, 20, broke Rublev to love in the fourth game to take a 3-1 lead. One more dominant break to love in the eighth game sealed the first set for Zverev. The No. 2 seed firmly held to his serve in the opener as Rublev had no break points during the set.
Zverev opened up a 3-1 second set lead following his break earned in the fourth game.
The No. 2 seed also broke Rublev two games later to take a commanding 5-1 lead. Rublev saved a match point on Zverev's serve in the seventh game to prolong the match. However, Zverev made no mistake on his serve in the ninth game to seal straight sets win.
Zverev hit nine aces and broke Rublev four times during the match. The No.
2 seed saved 6-of-7 of Rublev's break point chances on Friday. It took an hour and 10 minutes for the rising German to reach the Beijing semi-finals.
Zverev has remained perfect against Rublev. Zverev defeated Rublev in their first-ever ATP meeting a year ago. Back then, Zverev comfortable beat Rublev 6-1 6-3 at the Monte Carlo Masters.
Fourth meeting in 2017
Kyrgios and Zverev will be clashing for the fourth time when they meet in the China Open semi-finals. Kyrgios edged Zverev earlier this year at the Masters 1000 events in Indian Wells and Miami. 2017 Montreal Masters champion Zverev beat Kyrgios in the Montreal last-16 on his way to claiming the title. However, Kyrgios was clearly not at his best in Montreal as he was injured. Kyrgios will certainly be looking to make amends for that loss, while Zverev wants to collect back-to-back wins against the Australian.
