Miami, Feb 23 (AFP) Unseeded Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan rallied for a 1-6 6-4 6-0 victory over sixth-seeded Ugo Humbert Saturday to reach the ATP Delray Beach final.

Nishioka, apparently refreshed by a second rain delay, roared through the final set to advance to his second career final.

He won his only prior title match at Shenzhen in 2018.

On Sunday he'll face either second-seeded Milos Raonic of Canada or fourth-seeded American Reilly Opelka, who squared off in the second semi-final later Saturday.

Nishioka, 24 and ranked 63rd in the world, is already projected to surpass his career-best ranking of 58 on Monday.

After reaching that mark in March of 2017 Nishioka tore a left knee ligament and dropped as low as 380th in the world in April 2018 before starting to climb his way back.

Nishioka, who rallied to beat American Brandon Nakashima in the quarter-finals, saved six of eight break points he faced and won 27 of 37 points in the deciding set to beat the in-form Frenchman, who triumphed in Auckland in January. AFP

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)