Japan's Nishikori reaches second ATP final

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HOUSTON, Texas: Japan's Kei Nishikori advanced to the second final of his career by beating Pablo Cuevas 6-3, 7-5 in the semi-finals of the ATP Tour's US Clay Court Championships on Saturday.

Sixth-seeded Nishikori put away Uruguay's Cuevas with a forehand winner on the second match point to reach the final, where he will face American wild card Ryan Sweeting.

The 21-year-old Nishikori broke seventh seeded Cuevas in the fifth and 11th games of the second set before serving for the match.

Nishikori is hoping that a victory in Sunday's final will help bring awareness to the charities he has set up to help the victims in the wake of his homeland's earthquake/tsunami disaster.

World number 61 Nishikori had two aces and three double faults and won 71 percent of first serve points to reach his first final since winning at Delray Beach three years ago.

A win over Sweeting would make Nishikori the highest ranked Japanese player in history, moving him past Shuzo Matsuoka who in 1992 reached 46 in the world.

Sweeting advanced to his first ATP final with a 7-6 (7/3) 6-3 win over hard-serving Croatian Ivo Karlovic.

Sweeting is the first wild card to reach the tournament final since Mardy Fish did it in 2006. American No. 1 and top seed Fish was sent crashing out of the tournament by Nishikori in the quarter-finals.

Sweeting sealed his win with a blistering forehand against Karlovic, who looked tired after needing more than three hours to beat John Isner in Friday's quarter-final.

Karlovic, the winner here in 2007, did hammer one serve 219 kph (136 mph) to take a 3-2 lead in the first set tiebreaker. Karlovic was playing his seventh match in eight days.

Karlovic escaped one match point in the eighth game of the second set and had his serve broken for just the third time in the event in the sixth game of the second.

He finished with 56 aces for the tournament, four shy of Pete Sampras' tournament record.

Nishikori won his only previous match against Sweeting earlier this year at Delray Beach.