Australia’s John Millman has advanced to his second ATP semi-final appearance for the year after sweeping aside Taro Daniel 6-4 6-0.
The world No.80, who needed to save three match points in the first round of qualifying, eliminated Japan’s last remaining player with a minimum of fuss.
Millman put aside his friendship with the home favourite in a match lasting one hour and 19 minutes in Tokyo.
Daniel defeated Millman’s compatriot Jordan Thompson to reach the quarter-finals but his chances of a second Australian scalp in as many days were extinguished after a tight first set.
“That first set really could have gone either way. I came out of the box really well in that second set,” Millman said.
“That was probably the difference today.”
Millman broke the wildcard’s serve six times, winning 56 per cent of his return points to continue a strong stretch of recent results.
He has reached the Winston-Salem quarter-finals as well as winning the Kaohsiung Challenger in the past two months.
His semi-final appearance against big-serving American Reilly Opelka will be his first since making the last four in Budapest in April.
“I’m very comfortable in Japan. I’ve played here a lot. I love the conditions here, I love playing in front of the crowds,” Millman said.
Opelka ended local favourite Yasutaka Uchiyama’s hopes of a maiden ATP Tour semi-final appearance with a 6-3 6-3 victory.
World No.1 Novak Djokovic continued his dominant form in Tokyo to storm past Frenchman Lucas Pouille 6-1 6-2 and into the semi-finals.
Serbian Djokovic has served with ruthless efficiency in his previous two matches and more of the same was on display as the 32-year-old fired eight aces and won 82 per cent of points on his first serve to swat aside fifth seed Pouille in 50 minutes.
Djokovic is playing in his first tournament since retiring from his US Open fourth-round match against Stan Wawrinka because of a problem with his left shoulder.
He has now reached at least the semi-finals in six of his past seven tournaments going back to the Madrid Open in May.