U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic escaped a threat from Mikhail Kukushkin in their semifinals matchup and meet fifth seeded Roberto Bautista Agut in the finals of the Kremlin Cup in Moscow on Saturday.

The second seeded Cilic was attacking the 26-year-old Serbian from all angles of the court in the first set but failed to break Kukushkin in all eight of his opportunities while the Serb was able to break the Croatian once in two chances to take the set.

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Last year's runner-up Kukushkin felt confident at the start of the second set as he broke Cilic once again but the recently announced ATP World Tour finalist bounced back and broke the Serbian twice to send the match into a decider.

In the third set, Cilic just had to put the ball on play that put pressure on Kukushkin which worked as Cilic broke him twice to take the set and the match 4-6 6-3 6-2 in a match that lasted two hours and 12 minutes.

Cilic, 26, will now meet Bautista Agut of Spain in their first finals appearance encounter in the event.

Bautista Agut is one of the best service returners in the competition and is third with the highest percentage of first serves which he used to his advantage in his semis match against third seeded Ernest Gulbis.

The Mercedes Cup champion pressured the Latvian star with his serves in the first set that gave Bautista Agut four break point opportunities. He was able to convert one break point which was all he needed to clinch the first set.

The second set was more of the same except he was faced with a break point but was able to save it until he had an opportunity of his own to break Gulbis and took it to win the match and his first against the Latvian in 82 minutes.

The Cilic-Bautista Agut clash will commence on Sunday at the Olympic Stadium in Russia.

TagsMarin Cilic, Mikhail Kukushkin, Roberto Bautista Agut, Ernests Gulbis