Top-seeded Kei Nishikori reaches Mexico Open semis

The Japanese Nishikori will face fourth-seeded Kevin Anderson of South Africa.

Kei Nishikori, of Japan, eyes the ball before hitting a return to Ryan Harrison, of the United States, during the Memphis Open tennis tournament Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2015, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/The Commercial Appeal, Nikki Boertman)

Top-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan beat fifth-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine 6-4, 6-4 on Thursday to reach the Mexico Open semifinals.

Nishikori will face fourth-seeded Kevin Anderson of South Africa, who beat Serbian Viktor Troicki 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the hard-court event at The Fairmont Acapulco Princess.

In the night quarterfinals, second-seeded David Ferrer of Spain faced Australia’s Bernard Tomic, and sixth-seeded Ivo Karlovic of Croatia played Ryan Harrison of the United States.

In women’s play, Bulgaria’s Sesil Karatantcheva topped Monica Puig of Puerto Rico 2-6, 7-6 (7), 6-4. Karatantcheva will play fifth-seeded Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland, a 6-3, 6-3 winner over Sweden's Johanna Larsson.

In the other quarterfinals, top-seeded Maria Sharapova of Russia faced Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia, and third-seeded Caroline Garcia of France played Mirjana Lucic-Baroni of Croatia.