Fourth seed Cilic dug deep to seal a 6-4 2-6 6-3 win over the
in-form Paul, who had won 12 of his past 14 matches coming into
Thursday's contest.
Third seed Khachanov, who was runner-up at the Adelaide
International 1 event, suffered a 7-6(7) 7-5 defeat by world
number 58 Rinderknech.
Croatian Cilic said he was pleased with his performance so far
this season, having also reached the semi-finals of the first
event in Adelaide last week.
"Fantastic start to the year, tough matches," Cilic said in his
on-court interview. "He (Paul) played really well throughout the
match and just a couple of points, in the end, decided the
difference in the third set."
French qualifier Corentin Moutet secured a 6-4 6-4 win over
Brazil's Thiago Monteiro and will face Rinderknech in the last
four.
Thanasi Kokkinakis is due to play Aleksandar Vukic in an
all-Australian clash later on Thursday, with the winner set to
play Cilic for a spot in the final.
In the women's event, third seed Coco Gauff reached the last
four with a 6-3 6-4 victory over Croatia's Ana Konjuh but
American Madison Brengle was forced to retire from her match
against Alison Riske due to a slight calf injury.
Gauff said she had improved since losing to world number one Ash
Barty last week and hoped to build on her performance heading
into next week's Australian Open Grand Slam.
"I took a lot of positives from that match and I think I've been
improving and working on it this week," the 17-year-old told
reporters.
"I'm hoping to continue that momentum through the rest of this
tournament and through all the Australian Open."
Gauff will play the winner of the match between eighth seed
Ludmilla Samsonova and American Madison Keys.
Earlier, Brengle retired from the match with the score 3-3 in
the first set, sending Riske through to the semi-finals where
she will face the winner of the contest between fourth seed
Tamara Zidansek and Lauren Davis.
(Reporting by Manasi Pathak in Bengaluru; Editing by Richard
Pullin and Christopher Cushing)
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