Top seed Marin Cilic barely put a foot wrong on Thursday to advance to the Tata Open Maharashtra semi-finals with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over eighth-seeded Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert in 64 minutes.
The Croatian lost just one of his first service points (23/24) and struck seven aces as he continued his bid to win a third title on Indian soil, following victories in 2009 and 2010, when the ATP World Tour 250 tournament was held in Chennai. Cilic will next challenge France’s Gilles Simon, who was a 6-2, 6-3 winner over Spanish qualifier Ricardo Ojeda Lara.
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In other action, second-seeded South African Kevin Anderson was dominant on serve, hitting 24 aces and saving five of six break points, to advance past Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-2 in two hours and 30 minutes.
Anderson will meet fourth seed Benoit Paire of France, who also needed three sets to reach the semi-finals, beating fifth-seeded Dutchman Robin Haase 7-5, 2-6, 6-3. The quarter-final was throughly even – both players broke five times and they each won 50 per cent of the points (98/196).
