Kei Nishikori defeated Taiwan's Jason Jung in straight sets on Friday to advance to the final of the RBC Tennis Championships, an ATP Challenger Tour event in Dallas.
Nishikori beat No. 234 Jung 6-4, 6-4 at the T Bar M Racquet Club. He will face American Mackenzie McDonald in his first Challenger Tour final since 2010.
"My performance is improving day by day," Nishikori said. "But I have to play better than I did today to win (Saturday's final)."
The 28-year-old Nishikori broke his opponent's serve in the ninth game of the first set, when it was tied 4-4, and wrapped up the match in 1 hour, 19 minutes.
"I thought that these two weeks (competing in second-tier events) were training opportunities. I wasn't expecting anything from myself," he stated.