Masters fail Montreal test

Roger Federer suffered a stunning collapse and Rafael Nadal's creaky knees weren't strong enough to carry him into the semis as the top two players crashed out of the Montreal Masters on Friday.

Roger Federer suffered a stunning collapse and Rafael Nadal's creaky knees weren't strong enough to carry him into the semis as the top two players crashed out of the Montreal Masters on Friday.

HT Image

Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga's dramatic 7-6, 1-6, 7-6 comeback win over Swiss world number one Federer set the pace before towering Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro ended Nadal's Montreal title defence with a clinical 7-6, 6-1 win.

Andy Murray, however, cruised to a 6-2, 6-4 quarterfinal victory over Nikolay Davydenko of Russia. Seventh-ranked Tsonga came back from 5-1 down in the third set to hand the Swiss one of his most stunning defeats. A battling Nadal fought Del Potro through a marathon first set and ended with the Argentine coming back from 5-2 down in the tie-break to win 7-5. Del Potro will face Roddick, who beat fourth seed Novak Djokovic 6-4, 7-6.

Bhupathi-Knowles in semifinals

Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles eased into the semifinals of ATP Montreal Masters after scoring a 6-3, 6-4 win over the Polish pair of Mariusz Frystenberg and Marcin Matkowski here.

Prakash-Qureshi lose in challenger

Prakash Amritraj and his Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi crashed out in the ATP Challenger semis losing 7-6(4), 6-3 to South African Rik De Voest and Scott Lipsky.

Safina ends Clijsters comeback run

World number one Dinara Safina ended the comeback run of Kim Clijsters, defeating the Belgian 6-2, 7-5 in the quarters of the WTA hardcourt tournament.