Nadal beats Djokovic in Montreal semis

Rafael Nadal held off Novak Djokovic in three tense sets on Saturday and will now try to stop Canadian Milos Raonic from making more tennis history at the Montreal Masters.

Fourth seed Nadal, winner of the event in 2005 and 2008, defeated top seed and two-time defending champion Djokovic 6-4 3-6 7-6 (7-2) to reach his 10th final of the season.

Raonic, meanwhile, became the first Canadian into the tournament's final since 1958, when Robert Bedard won it.

Raonic booked his place with a 6-4 1-6 7-6 (7-4) victory over compatriot Vasek Pospisil, and with the win ensured he'll be the first Canadian ever to reach the top 10 in the ATP world rankings.

Raonic will have his work cut out against Nadal. The Spaniard has won all three of their prior encounters, including two on hard courts.

Nadal's two-hour, 20-minute struggle with Djokovic was a tight affair, with small margins determining victory.

Nadal dominated the third-set tiebreaker, taking a 6-0 lead. Djokovic saved two match points before falling.

"I tried my best in the tiebreaker," said Nadal, winner of seven titles this season. "I had to hit some fantastic shots to compete well against a big player like Novak. I'm very, very satisfied."

Nadal let the second set slip as he lost the eighth game from a position of strength, letting go of a 40-0 lead to drop serve and trail 3-5.

"You cannot let up against the top players for even a minute," said Nadal, whose 57 career titles include a dozen grand slams.

Nadal has now won two of three meetings with world No.1 Djokovic this year, including a five-set thriller in the semi-finals of the French Open, just weeks after Djokovic had taken the Spaniard's Monte Carlo crown in the final.

Djokovic's defeat ended a 13-match win streak in Canada for the Serbian, who also won the title in 2007 before his back-to-back triumphs in 2011 and 2012.

"I had my chances. He had his chances. At the end he played better," Djokovic said.

"I made a lot of double faults, which I couldn't explain."

Raonic was the winner in the first ATP semi-final between Canadians since Martin Wostenholme beat Andrew Sznajder in Rio de Janeiro 23 years ago.

"The top 10 stands out because it's a goal that I set out this year," he said. "To be able to do it here in Montreal is pretty amazing."

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Murray loses to Gulbis in straight sets as Wimbledon champion bows out of Montreal Masters

Andy Murray’s post-Wimbledon return came to an abrupt end when he was caught  cold by the aggressive play of world No 38 Ernests Gulbis in the third round of the Rogers Cup.

The 26-year-old Scot suffered his first defeat in 13 matches, a sequence going back to the start of the grasscourt season, as he struggled to deal with the relentless slapping of the ball from the other end. 

He lost 6-4, 6-3 in 88 minutes in his second match since lifting the trophy at Wimbledon.

This result will cause no panic whatsoever in the Murray camp but it represents a missed opportunity to make up some ground on Novak Djokovic in the rankings as he had scant points to defend from the same event last year.

For Murray it is all about peaking for the US Open that begins two weeks on Monday and he has been training hard this week after taking a fortnight off to absorb his success a month ago.

He could not disrupt the rhythm of one of the game’s biggest baseline groundstrokers, and lost the first set after being broken at 4-5.

He got a time violation early in the second set and could not recover, even after breaking back for 2-3 in the second.

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Novak Djokovic to face Rafael Nadal in Rogers Cup semi-final

world number one Novak Djokovic secured a semi-final with Rafael Nadal at the Rogers Cup in Montreal with a 6-1 6-2 victory over Frenchman Richard Gasquet.

Djokovic required only 52 minutes to eliminate the world number nine and called his performance "as close to perfection as you can be really".

Nadal, who leads Djokovic 20-15 in previous meetings, beat Australian qualifier Marinko Matosevic 6-2 6-4.

Canadians Vasek Pospisil and Milos Raonic meet in the other semi-final.

Nadal beat Djokovic 9-7 in the fifth set of an epic French Open semi-final lasting more than four-and-a-half hours in Paris two months ago.

Their last 11 meetings have been in finals, four of which were on hard courts similar to those in Montreal, and they were all won by Djokovic.

"Hard court is my most preferred surface. I feel that that's maybe the place where I have more chances against him than on clay definitely," said the Serb, 26.

Fourth seed Nadal admitted the hard courts would make Djokovic favourite to go through to the final.

"The conditions here are probably more favourable for him," said the 27-year-old Spaniard.

"Yes, we are playing on hard, but especially the conditions here. It's one of the fastest courts of the hard-court tournaments outdoors."

Meanwhile Raonic, the world number 13, kept his composure in front of a parochial home crowd as he overcame Andy Murray's conqueror Ernests Gulbis 7-6 4-6 6-4 in a two-and-a-half hour contest.

He now plays the 71st-ranked Pospisil, guaranteeing a Canadian finalist for the first time since Mike Belkin in 1969.

"It means a lot, not just to us, but to Canadian tennis," said Raonic. "It's an opportunity, a great, great moment. At the same time, it's another tennis match. That doesn't change."

Pospisil, who beat American John Isner and fifth seed Tomas Berdych this week in three sets, was given a rather lighter workout in the quarter-finals when opponent Nikolay Davydenko retired because of illness while trailing 3-0 in the first set.

"Two Canadians in the semi-final, one guaranteed to be in the final. It's a historic moment for tennis in Canada," said Pospisil.

"We know each other very well. Since we were little kids."

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