Nishikori cruises past Klizan

Barcelona - Reigning champion Kei Nishikori booked his place in the Barcelona Open final with a 6-1, 6-2 thrashing of Slovakia's Martin Klizan on Saturday.

Klizan had won the only previous meeting between the two in a shock straight sets win over an injury-plagued Nishikori at last year's French Open.

However, there was never any danger of a repeat in the Catalan capital as the Japanese romped through the first set in just 28 minutes.

Klizan offered some more resistence at the start of the second set as he held onto his serve in a marathon opening game that included eight deuces.

Nishikori, though, won the next five games to take him to the brink of victory before serving it out comfortably.

The world number five will face either David Ferrer or Pablo Andujar in Sunday's final.