Federer squeezes past Berdych

Roger Federer gained revenge over his Wimbledon conqueror Tomas Berdych by battling from 5-2 down in the third set to edge a thrilling quarter-final against the Czech at the ATP Rogers Cup in Toronto last night.

The world number three, ousted by Berdych in the last eight at SW19 and also in the third round of the Miami Masters earlier this year, was made to work hard by the seventh seed but eventually prevailed 6-3 5-7 7-6 (7/5).

Federer had the better of the opening set but Berdych kept plugging away and got his reward in the second to level matters.

The seventh seed broke the Swiss in the fourth game of the deciding set to establish a 3-1 advantage and served for the match at 5-3, but Federer refused to lie down and broke back to force a tie-break.

Federer, seeded three in Canada, looked to be cruising at 4-0 up but this time it was Berdych’s turn to battle back. He got it back to 5-5 but Federer dug deep to take the crucial next two points.

“It was a tough match to go through. I started off great, was doing all the right things,” the 16-time grand slam winner told Sky Sports 4.

“I had some opportunities to defend in the beginning of the second, where he had a couple of break-points early on in two of the service games and then I had really big chances of my own.

“I was struggling to see the ball in the night – that was tricky going from day to night.

“He also had one service game where he all of a sudden served two double faults and I had the same thing. I just couldn’t take advantage of it and he could.

“The third set was lucky. I tried and he got into a good momentum. He started to play better, loosened up a bit and got in a lead, but I just tried to hang with him. Those are the kind of matches I lost earlier on this season so I’m happy this one went my way.”

Federer paid tribute to his 24-year-old opponent, who is ranked seventh in the world.

“He’s got a massive game,” said the 29-year-old. “I’m happy for him that he’s finally making his move because I thought back when he beat me at the Athens Olympics in 2004 that he was going to make his move in the next couple of years but he was not able to, so I’m happy for him.”

Federer will face Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals after the Serbian fourth seed eased past Jeremy Chardy in the late match.

Djokovic was hugely impressive in beating his French opponent 6-2 6-3 to ensure the top four seeds all remained in the competition.

Rafael Nadal earlier came from a set down to see off Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber and book his place in the semi-finals.

A shock looked on the cards when the Spaniard, the world number one and top seed, dropped the opening set, but he roared back into the match to complete a 3-6 6-3 6-4 success in two hours and set up a last-four meeting with Andy Murray.

The Scot, the defending champion and fourth seed, crushed in-form David Nalbandian 6-2 6-2 in 69 minutes.

A single break was enough to give Kohlschreiber the opening set, but Nadal upped his game in the next, dominating on his own serve and on the German’s second and making one of his two break points count.

Nadal, who beat Murray on his way to winning Wimbledon earlier this summer, carved out five break opportunities in the decider, converting one to see out the win.

Murray won five games in a row at the end of the first set and the start of the second as he refused to let the Argentinian find any rhythm.

Nalbandian had no answer to his opponent’s impressive serving as Murray made 67% of his first serves and faced just one break point, which he saved.

Nalbandian came into the match in impressive form, having won his last 11 matches following his triumph over fifth seed Robin Soderling.

But Murray, who must reach the final of the event to preserve his world number four ranking, asserted his authority early on and broke twice in each set to seal a comprehensive win.