Naval recovers to advance in Rogers Cup
Wibledon champion Rafael Nadal has survived an early scare to advance in a tournament that is getting a reputation for upsets.
In a tournament that has seen top seed Roger Federer eliminated and third seed Novak Djokovic ousted earlier on Friday, the second-seeded Nadal had to rally from a one-set deficit to defeat Richard Gasquet of France 6-7 (12/14) 6-2 6-1 in the quarter-finals of the Rogers Cup.
The first set of the match took one hour and 15 minutes to complete as Gasquet battled before finally squeezing out a 14-12 victory in the tiebreak.
Momentum appeared to be on Gasquet's side, but Nadal rallied and took the next two sets in 65 minutes.
Nadal was strong on serve, connecting on 77% of them. He had no aces and one double fault in winning his 27th straight match and remaining undefeated in five career meetings with Gasquet.
Earlier, Andy Murray stunned the third-seeded Djokovic 6-3 7-6 (7/3) in another quarter-final.
Nadal will face Murray in one semi-final while the semi-final on the opposite side of the draw was set earlier and will pit Germany's Nicolas Kiefer against Frenchman Gilles Simon in a battle of unseeded players.
Djokovic defeated Nadal in the semi-finals here a year ago en route to the title and no doubt was hoping for the chance to play the Spaniard on this hardcourt surface.
However, the eighth-seeded Murray derailed the matchup in one hour, 45 minutes. The Scot managed to advance to the semi-finals despite clicking on only 41% of his first serves and firing just two aces.
Murray took advantage of Djokovic's second serve, winning better than half the points on it.
Djokovic had enjoyed success against Murray, posting a 4-0 career mark and taking 19 of the last 24 games played coming into the quarter-final but that trend ceased as Murray maintained his poise and won the tiebreak 7-3.
Kiefer knocked off seventh-seeded James Blake with surprising ease, needing just an hour to down the American 6-1 6-2, while Simon continued one of the best stretches of his career with a 3-6 6-2 6-3 victory over Croatia's Marin Cilic.
Upsets have been the norm for the 31-year-old Kiefer at this event, as he also topped fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko and number 15 Mikhail Youzhny prior to ousting Blake, who has gone 11 months without a title.
A former world number four, currently ranked 37th, Kiefer has not won a title since 2000 and is bidding to reach his first final since 2005.
He will have his hands full in the semis against the 22nd-ranked Simon, who captured his fourth career title on Sunday in Indianapolis and has won nine straight matches, including an upset of Federer in the second round of this event.
