Federer eases into Rogers Cup semis

Second-seeded Swiss Roger Federer coasted into the semi-finals of the Rogers Cup in Montreal with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Spain's Roberto Bautista-Agut here.

Although the 12th-seeded Spaniard managed to make the score of both sets respectable, Federer was much sharper than in his Thursday round-of-16 match against Spain's David Ferrer and never appeared threatened throughout the one-hour, eight-minute contest on Friday, reports Efe.

The 36-year-old, whose titles at the Australian Open and Wimbledon -- the 18th and 19th of his legendary career -- have made him the story of the 2017 tennis season, squandered a service-break lead early in the second set when he was broken for the lone time in the match.

But he broke Bautista-Agut's serve in the ensuing game and never looked back.

"I struggled against Ferrer early on, so today was better. I was more committed and a step further in, adjusting my position slightly realizing the ball does fly a lot," Federer was quoted as saying on the ATP World Tour's Web site.

Next up for Federer on Saturday will be surprise semi-finalist Robin Haase of the Netherlands, who rallied to defeat diminutive Argentine Diego Schwartzman 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 in a battle of unseeded players.

In another round-of-16 action, 18-year-old Canadian rising star Denis Shapovalov stunned world No. 2 Rafael Nadal 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) and stymied the Spaniard's hopes of regaining the No.1 ranking this week.

Either Nadal or the third-ranked Federer will take over the top spot in the rankings from Scotland's Andy Murray on August 21, following the conclusion of next week's hard-court event in Cincinnati.

Murray has withdrawn from Cincinnati with a lingering hip injury.

Both the Rogers Cup and the Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati are tune-up events for the final Grand Slam tournament on the tennis calendar, the US Open, which gets under way on August 28.

--IANS

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