Top four seeds make Japan Open semis

Fourth-seeded Mardy Fish won in three sets Friday and joined the tournament's top three seeds in the semifinals of the Rakuten Japan Open Championships. Fish got past Bernard Tomic 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 6-1 in the quarterfinals. Fish lost his serve twice in the first set but didn't face a break point after that. He won 60 percent of the points in the second and third sets. Top-seeded Rafael Nadal, No. 2 Andy Murray and third-seeded David Ferrer all won in straight sets. Nadal improved to 4-0 lifetime versus Santiago Giraldo with a 7-6 (8-6), 6-3 victory. The match took more than 2 hours, even though Nadal won nearly three-quarters of the points on serve. Murray posted three late breaks in the second set in defeating David Nalbandian 6-4, 7-5. Ferrer came out a 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) winner over Radek Stepanek by saving five of the six break points he faced. Nadal meets Fish and Murray takes on Ferrer in the semis. Fish notched his first win over Nadal in Cincinnati this year in their most recent meeting but lost the first six times they played. Murray and Ferrer have split their six career matches. Murray took a four-set win in the semifinals of the 2011 Australia Open the latest time they played.