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Marseille - Croatia's Marin Cilic reached his first semi-final of the season beating Andrey Kuznetsov 6-3, 6-4 at the ATP Marseille Open on Friday as Australian Nick Kyrgios whipped home hope Richard Gasquet 6-0, 6-4.
Cilic wrapped up the tie in 66 minutes, spoiling 24-year-old Russian Kuznetsov's bid for a first ATP World Tour semi-final appearance having now lost all seven quarter-finals he has competed in.
Cilic, 27, is looking to reach the Marseille final for the second time, having finished runner-up in 2011.
He next faces either top seed Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland or Frenchman Benoit Paire who play later.
Frenchman Gasquet, ranked 10, who pulled out of Rotterdam last week with flu, had won two weeks ago in neighbouring Montpellier.
But he was no match for the 41st-ranked Kyrgios, whose powerful serve helped him in a straightforward victory in under an hour.
The 20-year-old fired 17 aces, dropping just six points on serve and breaking Gasquet four times.
It was just Kyrgios's second win over Gasquet in six meetings, after the second round of Wimbledon in 2014.
He will bid to reach his second ATP World Tour final against either Czech Tomas Berdych or Belgian David Goffin on Saturday, having reached his maiden final last year in Estoril where he finished runner-up to Gasquet.
