Nadal rallies to reach Rogers Cup semis
Serena advances to Rogers Cup semifinals
Serena Williams advanced to the Rogers Cup semifinals Friday night, beating soon-to-be-top-ranked Naomi Osaka of Japan 6-3, 6-4 at breezy at York University in Toronto. Playing her first event since losing the Wimbledon final, Williams will face the winner of the late match between fourth-seeded Simona Halep of Romania and Czech qualifier Marie Bouzkova. The 37-year-old Williams, ranked 10th and seeded eighth, won the event in 2001, 2011 and 2013 — all in Toronto — and has a tournament-record 33 victories in 37 matches. She won the last of her 72 singles titles in the 2017 Australian Open. Osaka will go from No. 2 to No. 1 on Monday when the new ranking is announced. She played Williams for the first time since beating her last year in the U.S. Open final. Halep is playing her first event since beating Williams in the Wimbledon final. In the afternoon, Bianca Andreescu became the first Canadian Rogers Cup semifinalist since 1979, overcoming a groin injury to beat third-seeded Karolina Pliskova of Czech Republic 6-0, 2-6, 6-4. Andreescu will face American Sofia Kenin, a 7-6 (2), 6-4 winner over sixth-seeded Elina Svitolina of Ukraine. The 19-year-old Andreescu, from nearby Mississauga, is returning from a right shoulder injury that sidelined her since the French Open in May. She won in Indian Wells in March for her first WTA Tour title. "In the third set I told myself, 'Go big or go home,'" Andreescu said. "Literally go home. My home is like two minutes from here. I just went out there and I never gave up because it's not over until it's over." Andreescu played her fourth consecutive three-set match. She needed a medical timeout in the second set for treatment of the groin injury. Top-seeded Rafael Nadal rallied to reach the Rogers Cup semifinals at Montreal, beating No. 7 Fabio Fognini of Italy 2-6, 6-1, 6-2. The winner last year in Toronto for his fourth title in the event, Nadal won his 380th ATP Masters 1000 match, a day after breaking a tie with Roger Federer for the tour record. Nadal has 82 singles victories, winning the French Open in June for his second title of the year. In the semifinals, the 33-year-old Spanish star will face the winner of the late match between No. 10 Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain and No. 16 Gael Monfils of France. Fognini beat Nadal in their last meeting in the Monte Carlo Masters semifinals. In the afternoon, Daniil Medvedev and Karen Khachanov set up an all-Russian semifinal. The eighth-seeded Medvedev beat second-seeded Dominic Thiem of Austria 6-3, 6-1, and the sixth-seeded Khachanov topped third-seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany 6-3, 6-3.