Two-time champion Kei Nishikori kept his bid for a third Japan Open title on track with a 7-6(2), 6-1 semifinal win over France's Richard Gasquet on Saturday.

After both players held serve throughout the first set, the home favorite went up a double break early in the second en route to a comfortable victory in 1 hour, 32 minutes at Musashino Forest Sports Plaza.

The Japanese world No. 12, who has yet to lose a set at the tournament, served 10 aces to his 25th-ranked opponent's seven and did not concede a single double fault.

Nishikori said he had gained crucial momentum by winning the first-set tiebreaker, taking three points against the serve of Gasquet, who had won four earlier tiebreakers in the tournament.

"I think winning the tiebreak was very big for me and I think for him also. Because he's been playing great tiebreaks this week, and I think it's not easy to lose a first tiebreak like today," Nishikori said.

"I was able to raise my level in (the) tiebreak and play a little more aggressive, focus (on) every point, and play my best tiebreak for the last couple of months."

"Then I got good confidence. Also, I was a little lucky to break (in) the first game, second game (of the second set). I was up 3-0 and then I was more free to play my game."

Nishikori will meet Daniil Medvedev in Sunday's final after the 32nd-ranked Russian earlier defeated 31st-ranked Canadian Denis Shapovalov 6-3, 6-3 in the other semifinal.

The 22-year-old from Moscow registered his first win in three career meetings between the two unseeded semifinalists, breaking his 19-year-old opponent twice in each set to wrap up the match in just over an hour.

Nishikori, 28, made a strong start to his ninth career match against Gasquet, who had won seven of their previous encounters.

Third-seed Nishikori served a love game to go up 1-0 at the outset, then showed a willingness to attack No. 8 seed Gasquet's serve, closing out a long rally with a drop shot at the net to start the second game up 0-15.

With both players holding comfortably through five games, Nishikori brought up the first break point in the sixth with an impressive crosscourt backhand for 30-40.

But Gasquet answered with his own backhand winner before taking the next point with a smash at the net as he went on to hold serve.

The Frenchman survived two break points in his following service game, fighting back from 15-40 with four straight points to level the set at 4-4.

Nishikori jumped to a 3-0 lead in the tiebreaker after winning points against Gasquet's first two serves. He brought up set point with an ace, then sent down another unreturnable serve to clinch the tie-breaker 7-2.

Nishikori opened the second set by finally converting a break point, attacking Gasquet's second serve with the advantage and pressuring him into an error to take the game.

He claimed the double break and a 3-0 lead in even more convincing fashion, racing out to 0-40 before securing the point at 30-40 by punching a forehand winner down the line.

Down 0-30 in the seventh game, with Nishikori holding a 5-1 lead, Gasquet sent down a 186-kilometer-per-hour ace as he fought to stay alive. Nishikori brought up two match points on a crosscourt forehand before sealing the victory with a forehand winner to an ovation from the home crowd.

The Japanese, who did not face a break point throughout the match, had been serving at a higher level than in any of their previous meetings, Gasquet said.

"He (played) an incredible tie break. He was just better and that's why he won," Gasquet said.

In Sunday's doubles final, Japan's Ben McLachlan and his German partner Jan-Lennard Struff, the fourth seeds, will face South Africa's Raven Klaasen and New Zealand's Michael Venus, who are seeded third. Klaasen and Venus dispatched Britain's Joe Salisbury and Japan's Yasutaka Uchiyama 4-6, 7-6(2), 18-16.

The result of the tiebreak spoiled some good storylines.

McLachlan, whose mother is Japanese, grew up in New Zealand. He has partnered with Uchiyama in Davis Cup doubles for Japan. Last Saturday McLachlan and Salisbury teamed up to win the Shenzhen Open doubles title in China.