Reuters
Cincinnati, August 22: Roger Federer and Andy Murray advanced to the semifinals of the Cincinnati Masters here in contrasting fashion Friday to set up a rematch of their Wimbledon clash.
Federer made quick work of Spaniard Feliciano Lopez in a 6-3, 6-4 quarterfinal romp that lasted just over an hour.
Murray needed to grind out another win against Richard Gasquet, outlasting the Frenchman 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 after two hours.
Third seed Murray saved a match point in the third set and fought fatigue to win his second straight three-set battle.
“I fought and gave everything I had, but thankfully it’s just been enough in the last two days,” Murray told reporters.
Earlier, top seed Novak Djokovic avenged his French Open final loss to Stan Wawrinka by crushing the Swiss 6-4, 6-1.
Djokovic, now two wins away from becoming the first player to win all nine ATP Masters titles, needed a mere 63 minutes to dispatch fifth seed Wawrinka in the first meeting between the players since Roland Garros.
Wawrinka was wayward finishing with 33 unforced errors and pushing a backhand wide on match point.
Djokovic, a four-time runner-up in Cincinnati, broke Wawrinka’s serve four times and dropped just 12 points on serve in his final tune-up event ahead of the US Open.
“(My performance) came at the right time against one of my biggest rivals and the guy I lost to last time we played in the finals of the French Open,” Djokovic said.
“Obviously I approached this match very seriously in trying to prepare myself and get myself in a good position to win,” he added.
The World No. 1 next faces Ukrainian qualifier Alexandr Dolgopolov, a 6-4, 6-2 winner over Czech sixth seed Tomas Berdych.
Lee, Bops bow out
Cincinnati: Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna were ousted from the men’s doubles at the Cincinnati Masters with their respective partners Friday. Fifth seed Bopanna and Florin Mergea lost 1-6, 6-1, 12-14 to second seeds Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo. In the other quarterfinal, Paes and Stan Wawrinka suffered a 6-3, 2-6, 12-14 defeat at the hands of Feliciano Lopez and Max Mirny.