Kawasaki Frontale and Sanfrecce Hiroshima have kicked off their pursuit of reaching the Nabisco Cup final in positive fashion by winning their semi-final first legs.

Kawasaki scored a handy away goal at Jubilo Iwata through Masaru Kurotsu who netted in the 50th minute to give his side a strong lead heading into the return leg at Torodoki Stadium on October 10.

In the other semi, Sanfrecce Hiroshima edged Shimizu S-Pulse 2-1 at the Osaka Expo '70 Stadium with Tadanari Lee scoring one and setting up another for the victors who are a 50-50 chance of making the final following Shimizu's away goal.