"It was a tough match," Cecchinato said. "I know Andreas very well because we are friends, I have trained with him for so many years."
The 25-year-old next faces the winner of the other semi-final between Australia's John Millman and last year's beaten finalist Aljaz Bedene.
Millman earlier on Saturday completed a 2-6 6-1 6-4 victory over Germany's Yannick Maden after the pair's quarter-final match was suspended on Friday due to darkness.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
