Kei Nishikori and Milos Raonic both won their semifinals match to setup a 2012 rematch for the crown at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo on Saturday.

The fourth seeded Nishikori came back from a set down to demolish Benjamin Becker in the second set 6-0 and survived a tie-break in the third set to claim a spot at the finals of the tournament 4-6 6-0 7(7)-6(4).

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The 24-year-old Japanese has been dealing with back pains for the past few days that made him start slow in the first set but ultimately went back to form to come up with a win against the 33-year-old German.

Nishikori will now face a repeat of the 2012 finals against Milos Raonic where the Japanese won in three sets.

Canadian star Raonic made his way to the finals after defeating Gilles Simon of France in straight sets 6-1 6-4 which lasted an hour and 11 minutes.

"I executed well and had a good vision of what I wanted to do," Raonic said. "That's why I could come up with the shots I needed."

Raonic, 23, have made it into the finals for a third consecutive year but have lost the crown to Nishikori in 2012 and defending champion Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina last year who withdrew from the tournament due to a wrist injury.

Nishikori is ahead in its battle against Raonic at 3-1 including last month's U.S. Open where the Japanese won in a five set thriller 6-4 6(4)-7(7) 7(8)-6(6) 5-7 6-4.

Nishikori is right on schedule in becoming the first Asian to participate in the year-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London while Raonic is fending off a threat from Britain's Andy Murray and Spaniard David Ferrer who are not too far behind him in accumulated points.

Raonic is not alone however in its quest for the eight-man short list as Tomas Berdych is currently in seventh place, just 25 points ahead of him.

TagsKei Nishikori, Milos Raonic, andy murray, David Ferrer, Tomas Berdych