France’s Jeremy Chardy downed 23rd-ranked Ivo Karlovic 4-6, 7-6 (1), 6-4 and will face John Isner, who beat Nick Kyrgios.
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Djokovic will face Chardy in the semifinals on Saturday.
Should he win Cincinnati next week-and he has been runner-up four times-he will set one unique and very special record that has warranted a new name in anticipation of his achievement: the Career Golden Masters.
“He was always making me play an extra shot, and putting a lot of pressure on my second serve”.
The Scot’s work was not done, however, as he moved on to a second-round doubles match where he will play against older brother Jamie for the first time as a professional. I had a set point in the first set. “I’ll keep working hard and try to get that one spot higher”. “Anyway, the worst case I will lose”.
Seventh seed Nadal was playing in Canada for the first time since winning his third title there in 2013 and he now stands 28-7 in the country. When play resumed, Chardy won three straight games before Isner got his range back on his serve. “I felt like everything was going in”, he said. He put a flat forehand into net to donate the break in the first game of the final set.
Andy Murray continued his rich vein of form as he swept aside Kei Nishikori to advance to the final of the Rogers Cup in Montreal.
Rainy, muggy weather upset the schedule.
No investigation of the alleged impropriety was forthcoming, so Djokovic gamely played on with no further complaints about the alleged aroma of weed.
Next up for the world No. 1 in Friday’s quarter-finals will be Latvia’s Ernests Gulbis, who topped another American, Donald Young, 6-4, 6-4.
So far ahead of the competition are these two that Djokovic has already qualified for London and Murray has only to beat Tsonga to confirm his place, too. We did a lot of good points.
The Frenchman, ranked 49th, advanced for the first time to the semifinals of a Masters 1000 tournament, one level below the grand slams.
The match began almost 2 hours late and was interrupted more than an hour in the second set by another shower.
Nishikori won his third title of the season in Washington last week and is hitting his stride ahead of the U.S. Open. Gulbis hammered a return to open with a mini-break, stretching his lead to 3-0 with a serve victor down the middle.
In the second set, Halep opened by breaking Errani, who then broke back only to have Halep break yet again as control teetered.
The Wimbledon champion, who survived two match points in his quarterfinal match, completed a routine 6-4 6-4 victory over his unseeded opponent.
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“If you start to think about match points or breakpoints, you start to be nervous”, he said.
