Nick Kyrgios rolls into semifinals at Open 13 in France

Defending champion Nick Kyrgios breezed into the semifinals at the Open 13 Marseille on Friday.

Kyrgios required only 58 minutes to roll to a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Slovakian qualifier Norbert Gombos at Marseille, France. The Australian will have the crowd against him in the semis when he faces Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France on Saturday.

The third-seeded Kyrgios never faced a break point and won 94 percent of his first-serve points in overpowering Gombos.

"I thought I served and returned really well today," said Kyrgios. "All that matters is that I'm going out there and playing every point hard. I think I'm pretty aggressive on my returns, particularly here where I'm trying to get in the first big hit."

The second-seeded Tsonga was similarly impressive in a 6-4, 6-1 victory over countryman Gilles Simon. Tsonga broke the seventh-seeded Simon three times before closing out the match in 75 minutes.

A two-time winner here, Tsonga is seeking back-to-back titles after capturing the championship at Rotterdam a week ago. He will be facing Kyrgios for the first time.

Richard Gasquet of France had to work to earn his spot among the final four, needing three sets to dispatch top-seeded fellow Frenchman Gael Monfils 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-2.

The sixth-seeded Gasquet squandered a 3-1 lead in the first-set tiebreaker before rallying for the victory, breaking Monfils twice in the decisive third set.

Up next for Gasquet is another countryman in fourth-seeded Lucas Pouille, who advanced with a 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory over Russia's Daniil Medvedev. Gasquet and Pouille have split two career meetings.