Federer, Murray advance

Associated Press

TORONTO

Roger Federer advanced to the semifinals of the Rogers Cup with a 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (5) victory over Tomas Berdych on Friday night.

Federer had lost to the No. 7-ranked Czech twice this season, most notably in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon.

Federer broke serve in the first set to take a 4-2 lead and then dominated the next game with four straight points to push his advantage.

Berdych fought back to take the next game with powerful serves, but Federer used his imposing forehand shots from the baseline to take the opening set.

Down 6-5 and holding serve in the second, Federer committed a rare double fault and two unforced errors, leading Berdych to the pivotal break point where he made no mistake.

Federer looked to be in trouble again in the third set when Berdych broke his serve to move ahead 3-1. But Berdych wasn’t able convert his chances on a 5-2 lead and Federer rallied to force the tiebreaker.

Top-seeded Rafael Nadal got a stiff test as he was pushed to a third set in a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 quarterfinal victory over Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Nadal, who won this event in 2005 and 2008, was broken in his first service game and went on to lose the opening set. He used his punishing baseline game to bounce back and advance to the semifinals.

Nadal will play defending champion Andy Murray of Britain, who was dominant in a 6-2, 6-2 win over David Nalbandian of Argentina.

“He’s playing well and it will be very difficult [today],” Nadal said. “Playing against him is always a challenge. I have to improve my level [of play].”

The fourth-seeded Murray needed just 69 minutes to snap Nalbandian’s 11-match winning streak.

“It was one of the best matches I’ve played this year probably,” Murray said. “I was expecting it to be a very tough match and it wasn’t.”