• Rogers Cup

Nadal shows all his mettle to book tie with Murray

Rafael Nadal was made to work for his quarter-final victory by Philipp Kohlschreiber © Getty Images

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World No. 1 Rafael Nadal was forced to show all of his trademark determination in a gruelling three-set victory over Philipp Kohlschreiber in the Rogers Cup.

Nadal was shell-shocked by a blistering start from his German opponent, but the Spaniard recovered to win 3-6 6-3 6-4 and set up a last-four meeting with Britain's Andy Murray.

The Wimbledon champion was left stunned as Kohlschreiber broke early and raced into a 4-1 lead in the opening set.

By Nadal's high standards, his early trading was a little erratic. But to concentrate on Nadal's failings would be to overlook the contribution that Kohlschreiber made - especially in the first set.

His forehand opened Nadal up and he unleashed booming winners from all over the court. The rest of the first set went with serve and the 26-year-old deservedly closed it out to take all of the momentum into the start of the second.

But to maintain his exceptional play was always going to be a huge ask for the world No. 37 and Nadal upped the ante at the start of the second to earn himself an immediate break.

While Nadal's first serve percentage was rocketing, his opponent's was stuttering below 30 per cent and the eight-time grand slam winner pounced.

Although the floodgates did not open, Nadal carved out five break point opportunities in the decider, converting one to book a showdown with arch-rival Murray on Saturday night.

Roger Federer won a memorable three-set epic against his nemesis of 2010, Tomas Berdych. The former No.1 came out a 6-3 5-7 7-6 winner after being down 2-5 in the deciding set.

Federer looked out for revenge as he powered through the first set, but that seemed to free up Berdych to play a more natural game and he lifted a gear in the second set. Federer rallied to stay in touch but Berdych finally converted on his fifth break point opportunity to push the match to a third set.

Berdych looked like completing his third victory over Federer this year but momentum swung mid-set and the Swiss, assisted by some Friday the 13th freakish luck with the ball hitting the net cord and dropping over numerous times, including the opening point of the tie-break, took his record to 9-3 in one of the circuit's best head-to-head rivalries.

And Novak Djokovic ensured the semi-finals would consist of the top four seeds by seeing off Jeremy Chardy 6-2 6-3 in easy fashion. Djokovic looked more comfortable in the evening cool and had little problem beating the Frenchman for the fifth time from as many meetings.

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