Federer downs Bautista Agut to reach Rogers Cup semfinals

Second-seeded Roger Federer continued his mastery over 12thseeded Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain with a 6-4, 6-4 victory in a quarter-final at the Rogers Cup yesterday.

In Saturday’s semifinals, the 36year-old Swiss will face unseeded Dutchman Robin Haase, a 4-6, 63, 6-3 winner over Diego Schwartzman of Argentina.

Federer has won all seven career matches and taken all 16 sets against the 29-year-old Bautista Agut.

He is 1-0 against Haase — a straight-sets win in Davis Cup play in 2012.

Federer broke serve for a 5-4 lead in the first set and broke again for 2-1 in the second enroute to a one hour eight minute win over Bautista Agut.

Haase reached his first career Masters Series semifinal. The 30year-old Haase, ranked 52nd in the world, improved to 5-0 against 36th-ranked Schwartzman in his career.

Nadal upset by Canadian teenager in Montreal

Canadian teenager Denis Shapovalov upset top-seeded Rafael Nadal 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (4) in the third round of the Rogers Cup on Thursday night.

The 18-year-old Shapovalov, from Richmond Hill, Ontario, advanced to a quarterfinal meeting Friday night with France’s Adrian Mannarino, who defeated Hyeon Chung of South Korea 63, 6-3.

Shapovalov has taken major strides this week to reach his goal of cracking the world’s top 100 with wins over Rogerio Dutra Silva and 2009 U.S. Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro. He also halted Nadal’s bid to regain the No. 1 ranking, which the Spaniard could have achieved by reaching the semifinals.

Shapovalov battled back after Nadal cruised through the first set, then erased a 3-0 deficit in the tiebreaker for the biggest victory of his career.

Shapovalov became the youngest player to reach the tournament’s quarterfinals since Bjorn Borg in 1974. With hockey great Wayne Gretzky and Olympic swimming star Penny Oleksiak cheering for him from the seats, he also became the youngest quarterfinalist at a Masters Series tournament ever and is the youngest to beat a player ranked in the top two in the world since Nadal beat Federer in 2004 in Miami.

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Roger Federer overcame a weak first set to post a 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Spaniard David Ferrer in an earlier third-round match.

In Friday’s quarterfinals, the second-seeded Federer will face 12th-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain, who outlasted Frenchman Gael Monfils 4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (2) on center court at Uniprix Stadium.

Unseeded Argentine Diego Schwartzman posted a strange win over American Jared Donaldson 0-6, 7-5, 7-5 to advance to a quarterfinal meeting with Robin Haase, the 52nd-ranked Dutchman who upset seventhseeded Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-1.

Kevin Anderson of South Africa downed American Sam Querrey 6-4, 6-1 and will next play fourthseeded Alexander Zverev, who ousted 16th-seeded Nick Kyrgios 6-4, 6-3.

Federer, who breezed past Canadian Peter Polansky in the second round on Wednesday, struggled in the opening set, spraying balls long, wide or into the net, but gradually rediscovered at least some of the form that has seen the 36-year-old Swiss earn two grand slam wins this year.

Federer is 17-0 in his career against the 35-year-old Ferrer, Premier League, BrightonManchester City (live) 6.15pm, GO Sports 3, English Premier League, Crystal Palace-Huddersfield T. (delayed) 6.15pm, GO Sports 4, English Premier League, EvertonStoke who was ranked third in the world in 2013 but is now at No.33.

Bautista Agut fought off a match point to force a tiebreaker, which the tired-looking Monfils opened with a double fault and never challenged again.

The unseeded Monfils played his third straight three-set match, including an upset win over fifthseeded Kei Nishikori in the second round.

Schwartzman saved four match points to upset third-seeded Dominic Thiem in the second round. The win over Donaldson put him in a quarterfinal for the sixth time this year. Schwartzman’s only ATP win was on clay in Istanbul last year.

Top-seeded Karolina Pliskova advances at Rogers Cup

Karolina Pliskova advanced to the quarterfinals at the Rogers Cup on Thursday when Japanese qualifier Naomi Osaka was forced to retire because of an injury.

The world’s top-ranked player moved on with a 6-2, 6-7 (4), 1-0 victory when Osaka had to retire because of an abdominal injury.

It wasn’t immediately clear when Osaka suffered the injury. She was in form during the City (delayed) 6.15pm, GO Sports 5, English Premier League, Southampton-Swansea (delayed) 6.15pm, GO Sports 6, English Premier League, West Bromwich-Bournemouth (delayed) tiebreaker, firing a service winner to convert her second set point under the warm sun at Aviva Centre.

Pliskova came out strong to open the third set and Osaka called for a trainer at the changeover. She briefly stretched out on the hardcourt before the decision was made.

The world’s No. 50 player received treatment after the match and did not speak to reporters.

Pliskova, meanwhile, will move on to play sixth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, who defeated 10th-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 6-3, 6-1.

Second-seeded Simona Halep of Romania needed only 59 minutes to breeze by Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-0 while American Sloane Stephens upset third-seeded German Angelique Kerber 6-2, 6-2.

Later Thursday, fifth-seeded Ukrainian Elina Svitolina defeated American Venus Williams 6-2, 6-1, and Spain’s Garbine Muguruza beat Australian qualifier Ashleigh Barty 6-0, 3-6, 6-2.

Also, Caroline Garcia of France advanced with a 6-4, 6-2 win over American CiCi Bellis, and Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic moved on with a 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-2 victory over Ekaterina Makarova of Russia. Tomorrow 2.30pm, GO Sports 2, English Premier League, Newcastle United-Tottenham Hotspur (live) 5pm, GO Sports 2, English Premier League, Manchester Utd.-West Ham (live)