Tennis Update: Top four tennis maestros stormed into the semi-finals of the Toronto Masters- Nadal, Federer, Murray & Djokovic
The action continues to enthral audience at the Toronto Masters hard court tennis championship, as the leading tennis stars from around the world battle it out for supremacy.
The reigning World number one Spain’s Rafael Nadal survived a scare and the greatest player of the modern generation Roger Federer ended a miserable recent run to Tomas Berdych, to ensure that the top four players in the world line up for the semi-finals of the tournament.
The defending champion Andy Murray of the United Kingdom, and world number two Serbia’s Novak Djokovic also cruised through to join Nadal and Federer in a quest of winning the two berths for the final of the tournament.
However, the locals are dreaming of a Nadal-Federer final and it was this possibility that kept the fans glued to action in sweltering conditions at the venue.
Nadal, who is making his first appearance since his victory in the Wimbledon earlier last month, appeared to still be in holiday mode. He was thus forced to work even harded for a place in the semi-finals.
His quarter-finals opponent Philipp Kohlschreiber gave him a real run for his money, before the classy Spaniard prevailed with a 3-6 6-3 6-4 win.
The 37th ranked German was keyed up for the occasion and gave the game a real shot, before running out of steam and relinquishing his stranglehold to the rampaging King of Clay.
On the other hand, Swiss maestro Federer stepped onto centre court amid fears that he might caught napping once again by an opponent who has had the wood over him in recent months.
However, the record holder for most grand slam wins was a man possessed scoring a hard fought 6-3 5-7 7-6 victory over Tomas Berdych.
The lanky 1.96 metres Czech has been a real head ache for the champion tennis player, beating him twice this season including a shock win in the last eight stage of the biggest prize in tennis Wimbledon.
"This one felt really good, getting through 7-6 in the third against a good player," a relieved Federer told media personal after recording his win.
Berdych was the dominant force in the last set of the match racing to a seemingly comfortable 5-2 lead.
However, Federer being the champion he is, refused to throw in the towel as he fought every inch of the way.
He succeeded in scoring a break when Berdych was serving the match out at 5-3, with the crowd roaring in anticipation of a stunning comeback by their favourite; Federer came through a pulsating tiebreak that saw the Swiss man jump ahead 4-0.
Berdych was equally relentless, yet it was the Swiss maestro who prevailed eventually recording a 7-5, when the Czech sent a return into the net.
Defending champion Murray who needs to win his semi-final tie in order to retain his number four ranking played a brilliant game in his quarterfinal to brush aside the challenge of a red-hot David Nalbandian.
The loss ended 11-match winning streak of the Argentine, as Murray recorded an identical 6-2, 6-2 win in the best of three sets match.
The semi-final line up was complete when Serbian Novak Djokovic, who won the tournament in 2007 eased into the last four with a 6-2 6-3 win over Frenchman Jeremy Chardy.
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