Kei Nishikori has presented his case for Brisbane International favouritism, prevailing in a high-class quarter-final against Grigor Dimitrov on Thursday night.
The Japanese world No.9 rallied from 1-4 down in the second set to topple the Bulgarian 7-5 7-5 in a rematch of the 2017 final.
The tournament’s second seed will play France’s Jeremy Chardy in Saturday’s semi-final, after Nick Kyrgios’s conqueror prevailed in a third set tie-break against Japan’s Yasutaka Uchiyama earlier in the day.