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The Australian world No.6 is regarded as one of the best exponents of grass court tennis but was unable to handle the aggressive Nakashima in a 7-5 6-3 quarter-final defeat.

A tight opening set dominated by serve was edged by world No.32 Nakashima as he converted the first break point of the match in the 12th game.

De Minaur had a chance at 1-1 in the second set on Nakashima's serve but was unable to take it.

On a boiling hot day on Andy Murray Arena, he dropped serve at 3-4 and there was no way back as Nakashima clinched his first win against a top-10 player in two years.

Nakashima will face Argentina's No.7 seed Francisco Cerundolo after he battled past British wildcard Arthur Fery 7-6 (7-1) 3-6 6-4. Cerundolo suffered a scare when he was struck in the throat by a Fery backhand from close range and was left on the ground.

"I got hit and I couldn't breathe, but after one or two games it went away," he said.

The other semi-final will see American former champion Tommy Paul take on France's Ugo Humbert. Paul beat No.4 seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain 6-3 7-6 (7-4) while Humbert thrashed Australia's Rinky Hijikata 6-1 6-2.