Qualifier Alexandr Dolgopolov reached his second ATP World Tour Masters 1000 semi-final on Friday as he upset sixth seed Tomas Berdych 6-4, 6-2 at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati.

The Ukrainian took the place of the injured Kei Nishikori in the main draw and has powered on after a first-round bye, notching his first main draw win in Cincinnati with victory over Bernard Tomic before setting the clash with Berdych after beating Jerzy Janowicz.

The 26-year-old Dolgopolov claimed the eighth Top 10 win of his career (8-33 mark) as he dismantled Berdych in 75 minutes. The right-hander recorded his first win in five meetings with the Czech as he won 81 per cent of his service points and converted two of five break points.

Dolgopolov will contest his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 semi-final since 2014 Indian Wells, where he defeated Rafael Nadal and Milos Raonic before his run was ended by Roger Federer. He is the first qualifier through to the Cincinnati semi-finals since David Wheaton in 1994.

In Saturday’s semi-finals, Dolgopolov will look to overturn a 0-4 FedEx ATP Head2Head record against World No. 1 Novak Djokovic, who defeated Stan Wawrinka in the first quarter-final. Dolgopolov pushed Djokovic to three sets in their last meeting in Miami earlier this year.