Cincinnati Masters: Robredo upsets Djokovic as Federer battles back against Monfils

World number one Novak Djokovic suffered a shock defeat to Tommy Robredo on Thursday at the Cincinnati Masters, but Swiss tennis ace Roger Federer battled back to avoid an upset against France's Gael Monfils.

Spain's Robredo, seeded 16th in the US Open tune-up, sent defeated top-seeded Djokovic 7-6 (8/6), 7-5. The defeat came a week after the world number one Serb was beaten in the third round at Toronto.

Djokovic will now go into the US Open, the final Grand Slam of the year, which starts on August 25, well short of matches and confidence, Sport24 reported.

Meanwhile second-seeded Federer, a five-time Cincinnati champion, held off Monfils 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 and advanced to a quarterfinal match against eight-seeded Scot Andy Murray, who battled more than two hours against the huge serve of John Isner, finally dispatching the American 6-7 (3/7), 6-4, 7-6 (7/2).

Federer had a rare show of temper late in the match, arguing with the chair umpire over a decision not to call on electronic line calling on a particular point. But he quickly recovered his poise, clinching the match with a service winner after breaking Monfils in the penultimate game.

Federer said that he is just happy the way he is playing right now, and added that it was much better than the last couple of matches.

Djokovic, who was married last month and is soon to become a father, said it wasn't a question of the new elements in his life weighing on his tennis. He said that he just lost the match and it was bad, adding that a lot of things are not clicking these two weeks on hard courts.

The Wimbledon champion said that he has to keep on working and trying to get better for the US Open.

Moreover, Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka, the third seed, rallied to beat Croatian Marin Cilic 3-6, 6-0, 6-1 and will face France's Julien Benneteau, who beat Jerzy Janowicz 7-5, 6-1.

Fifth seed Milos Raonic made amends with his 30th ace on match point after earlier double faulting three times while serving for victory. The Canadian defeated American Steve Johnson 6-7 (7/9), 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) and next faces Italian 15th seed Fabio Fognini, who beat Lu Yen-Hsun of Taiwan 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, the report added.