Estoril, April 30

In-form Australian Nick Kyrgios moved closer to a second consecutive final at the Estoril Open after dominating Borna Coric 6-4, 6-4 in the quarter-finals on Friday.

World No 20 Kyrgios, a losing finalist a year ago to Richard Gasquet, will face Spaniard Nicolas Almagro, who beat Argentine seventh seed Leonardo Mayer 6-4, 7-6 (7/5). "He's someone I watched when I was growing up," Kyrgios said of the veteran Almagro.

Kyrgios, who turned 21 this week, and 19-year-old Croatian Coric are two of the most promising stars on the ATP but had never previously played each other.

The Australian broke early in both sets to establish himself and keep the momentum firmly on his side of the clay court.

He sent over an ace for two match points, with both saved by Coric, before Kyrgios finished the win on his third chance in 69 minutes. Coric was stopped at the Estoril quarter-final stage for a second straight edition. Kyrgios fired 10 aces to seven for his opponent and never faced a break point.

At the top of the draw, Pablo Carreno Busta prevented an all-French semi-final as he put out top seed Gilles Simon 6-3, 6-4.

The upset sent eighth seed Carreno Busta into a match-up with French third seed Benoit Paire, a winner over Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, 7-6 (7/2), 6-2.

Carreno Busta is one victory away from a second career ATP final after losing in Sao Paulo to Pablo Cuevas in February.

Simon's return to the seaside venue outside of Lisbon for the first time since 2011 ended in disappointment, as the world No 18 was ambushed by his 50th-ranked opponent, managing only two aces and losing serve twice.