TOKYO — Unseeded Benoit Paire of France beat defending champion Kei Nishikori 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 Saturday to advance to the Japan Open final where he faces top-seeded Stan Wawrinka.
After breezing through the opener when he broke Paire twice, Nishikori struggled in the second set and failed to convert any of his five break points. Paire won the set with a powerful backhand winner down the line to break the second-seeded Nishikori, who was bidding for his third Japan Open title.
"I beat myself and that's why I lost," Nishikori said. "I made some basic mistakes. If I had been aggressive the way I was in the first set, the result of the match would have been different.