Cilic knocks out fancied Murray

Top seed Juan Martin del Potro and No 2 Andy Murray were both knocked out of the Rotterdam World Tennis quarterfinals on Friday.

The top two seeds were also upsetted by the same 6-3, 6-4 scorelines.

Latvian Ernests Gulbis beat the top seed, while unseeded Croatian Marin Cilic outplayed Murray to win his eighth match in a row this season, including a champion last week at home in Zagreb. 

The Scot had claimed victory in nine of their 10 previous matches but was well off his game as he went out in 71 minutes, losing serve once in each set. Murray now has 10 days before his next start in Acapulco. 

Third seed Tomas Berdych rallied to see off Poland’s Jerzy Janowicz in nearly two-and-a-half hours in his 6-7 (9-11), 6-2, 6-4 comeback.

Dutchman Igor Sijsling beat German Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 to become the first home player to reach the last four here in more than a decade. He will next face Cilic.Nishikori in semis

Defending champion Kei Nishikori rallied back well to beat Russian Alex Bogomolov 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 and reach the semifinals at the ATP US Indoor Championships in Memphis.

In another match, American Michael Russell eliminated Australian third seed Lleyton Hewitt in 6-3, 7-6 (8-6). 

Chinese Taipei’s Lu Yen-Hsun, seeded fourth, also advanced, ousting US qualifier Alex Kuznetsov 6-1, 6-4 in 74 minutes.

Nishikori saved all four of the break points he faced in the final set to win after two hours and 18 minutes. Nishikori will next play Russell, who is ranked 98th and has never won an ATP title.Nadal to play in Rio

World No 1 Rafael Nadal has confirmed he will play in next week’s Rio Open after recovering from a back injury.

The winner of 13 Grand Slam titles had been sidelined since his loss to Stanislas Wawrinka in the final of the Australian Open last month.