federer-roger

Like a true champion, Roger Federer gutted out a victory when his body language indicated he was down and out.

The Swiss tennis star’s quest for a third Rogers Cup title is still alive after he halted a two-match losing skid against Czech Tomas Berdych with a 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (5) quarter-final victory in two hours 41 minutes at York University in Toronto on Friday night.

Federer, who had lost to Berdych earlier this summer in the quarter-finals at Wimbledon and at the Miami Masters before that, will meet the winner of Friday evening’s other quarter-final, between Novak Djokovic and Jeremy Chardy.

“It’s good to stop him and it’s good for my confidence,” said Federer, who is currently ranked No. 3. “I tried to take out a few things from Wimbledon, but out there [on the court] I was thinking of the Miami match. It played out similar except this time I made it.”

Federer appeared headed for a quick night early on, going 22-for-22 in points on his first serve and dominating Berdych, the No. 7 seed in Toronto, who had a sore left thigh heavily taped.

Live coverage

Watch live coverage of the Rogers Cup on CBC.

The main network will televise both semifinal singles matches on Saturday (3 p.m. and 7 p.m. ET) and the final on Sunday (1:30 p.m. ET).

All three matches will also be streamed live on CBCSports.ca.

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, clocking in at 219 kilometres per hour, but Federer used his imposing forehand shots from the baseline to take the opening set 6-3.

In the second, the 16-time Grand Slam champion began spraying and missing forehands early in the second set. Down 6-5 and holding serve, Federer practically gave the set away with a rare double fault and two unforced errors, leading Berdych to the pivotal break point where he made no mistake.

“It was one of those matches that felt like it was going to slip away again like the beginning of the season,” said Federer. “That I was able to turn it around is huge at this point.”

Berdych carried momentum into the third set and grabbed a 5-2 lead before Federer mounted a huge comeback to force the tiebreaker and thrill a sold-out crowd that was overwhelmingly on the latter’s side.

“The crowd was absolutely amazing,” added Federer. “You rarely get those kind of atmospheres …. It’s nice to get the support.”

Federer, 29, went up 4-0 in the tiebreaker but a relentless Berdych fought back to tie it 5-5. But a return into the net and another deep and out of bounds gave Federer the victory, his 15th in 22 tiebreakers this season.

Federer, who downed French veteran Michael Llodra 7-6 (2), 6-3 in a third-round match Thursday, improved to 9-3 in his career against Berdych, 24.
Nadal survives scare

A dream matchup at Rexall Centre in Sunday’s final continues to be a distinct possibility.

Rafael Nadal, the world’s No. 1 player, withstood a charge from Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber before walking away with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory in the quarter-finals Friday afternoon.

Nadal now faces Great Britain’s Andy Murray in the semifinals of the $2.43-million US tournament on Saturday. Murray, the defending Rogers Cup champion, had no trouble defeating Argentina’s David Nalbandian 6-2, 6-2 on Friday.

Nadal, who won the event in 2005 and 2008, was broken in his first service game and went on to lose the opening set. The world’s top-ranked player used his punishing baseline game to bounce back.

“Every match is tough and he’s a good player, he’s difficult to beat,” said the Spaniard. “Today I started terrible in the beginning …. It’s a good victory for me because I finished the match playing better.”

Kohlschreiber broke the two-time champion in the first game and won the opening set. Nadal won the second set easily, but the 37th-ranked German refused to go quietly and was serving at 3-3 in the third set.

The world No. 1 utilized his superior baseline game for the entire match, and in the deciding set Nadal won four straight break points. The match was over in exactly two hours.

“He [Nadal] played very aggressive from the baseline and pushed me back,” Kohlschreiber said. “It was tough, and there was a lot of pressure during the games when I didn’t serve so well. He improved so much.”

As for Murray, Nadal acknowledged his strong play in Toronto, adding, “It will be very difficult [Saturday]. Playing against him is always a challenge. I have to improve my level [of play].”

Fans would love to see the charismatic Nadal meet the 16-time Grand Slam champion Federer in Sunday’s final.

Murray, meanwhile, broke the Argentine to take a 5-2 lead in the second set before serving out to win the match in 69 minutes and 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. You know when you’re out there, you’re not really thinking whether it’s comfortable … you’re not thinking about how easy the scoreline is or not, because he has been over the last few years one of the best at coming back from tough situations.

“So the scoreline would suggest that it was very easy. But if you look in the first set especially, a lot of close games, a lot of 30-all points, a lot of deuce points and long games. I just managed to hang on.”

Friday’s victory means Murray has reached the final four of the Rogers Cup in four of the last five years — he bowed out in the second round in 2007.

The result also ended the amazing run by Nalbandian, a one-time Wimbledon finalist (in 2002) who fell off the radar for much of the last two years due to hip and hamstring injuries.

The Argentine served notice of his comeback by winning the Legg Mason title in Washington, D.C., last week, defeating Marin Cilic, Stanislas Wawrinka, Gilles Simon and Marcos Baghdatis. His opponents in Toronto weren’t slouches, either — he dispatched Spaniards David Ferrer and Tommy Robredo and No. 5 seed Robin Soderling of Sweden in quick succession.

But Nalbandian was no match for Murray, who twice broke the Argentine in the first set before closing it out with an ace. Murray broke Nalbandian to begin the second set and never gave him a chance to get back into the match, which he closed out with another ace.

Nalbandian gave credit to Murray but admitted that playing 10 matches in 14 days had taken its toll.

“I feel a little tired for all the weeks, for last week and this one, and I didn’t get a rest,” he said. “But I’m pretty happy the way that I tried to play. In a few games I was close but I made some easy mistakes.

Second seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia faces France’s Jeremy Chardy later Friday.