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Roddick outgunned in Tokyo

Gael Monfils hits an unorthodox return © Getty Images

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Despite not dropping a service game, second seed Andy Roddick was sent crashing out of the Japan Open in Tokyo, as top seed Rafael Nadal stormed into the semi-finals.

Roddick saved all ten break points he was faced with in his quarter-final clash with fifth seed Gael Monfils, but fell 7-6(5) 4-6 7-6(6) after nearly three hours on court.

In a showdown of the big servers, it was Monfils who came out on top, firing 16 aces to Roddick's eight, and edging two tie-breaks to seal his place in the semi-finals.

Two of those aces came on the last three points in a match that could have gone either way. Roddick saved three match points in the tenth game of the decider before going on to lead 5-2 in the tiebreak.

But Monfils fired his 15th ace of the day match to save match point, and produced another untouchable serve to put himself within a point of victory. The Frenchman sealed the win with a passing shot and set up a semi-final showdown with Radek Stepanek.

The Czech moved into the quarter finals after Marco Chiudinelli retired in the third set, and didn't have to swing a racket to seal his place in the last four after Jarkko Nieminen forfeited with illness.

On the other side of the draw, top seed Nadal needed just 71 minutes to seal a 6-4 6-1 win over Dmitry Tursunov.

The Spaniard lost the only break point he faced, but converted five breaks of his own to wrap up a routine victory. Nadal will now face Viktor Troicki after the Serbian defeated Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-2 3-6 6-4. Troicki's victory denies Nadal the chance for revenge after he lost to Garcia-Lopez at the same stage of the Thailand Open last week.

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