July 27, 2008	Sunday	Rajab 23, 1429

TORONTO, July 26: Defending champion Novak Djokovic lost to Andy Murray in the Toronto Masters quarter-finals but Wimbledon champion Rafael Nadal survived a scare to advance on Friday.

Nadal, in his first tournament since his epic five-set win over Roger Federer at Wimbledon, was pushed by Frenchman Richard Gasquet before rallying to claim a 6-7, 6-2, 6-1 victory.

The Spaniard will face Murray on Saturday for a place in Sunday’s final after the eighth-seeded Briton shocked Djokovic 6-3, 7-6.

The other semi-final will pit in-form Frenchman Gilles Simon against German journeyman Nicolas Kiefer.

Simon, who shocked Federer in the second round, continued his magical hardcourt campaign, outlasting hard-hitting Croatian Marin Cilic 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 while Kiefer, seeking his first title in eight years, demolished seventh-seeded American James Blake 6-1, 6-2.

Gasquet, who had never beaten Nadal in four career meetings, looked determined to end the drought, battling the world number two to a first set tiebreak and winning it on his sixth set point with a driving forehand winner.

But the effort appeared to drain Gasquet and steel Nadal, who broke to take a 4-1 lead in the second and swept through eight of the next 10 games to finish off the Frenchman in two hours 19 minutes.

Murray, searching for his first win in five career meetings with Djokovic, broke the Australian Open champion at the first opportunity to move into a 3-0 lead and eased to the opening set.

The players exchanged breaks in the second but Murray dominated the tiebreak, winning it 7-3 to reach the Canadian semi-finals for the second time.

“It’s a big win mentally for me,” Murray said. “The last three times I played him I lost pretty badly.

“The first time I played him I was a set and a break up and lost. It was pretty much similar to tonight.

“Against the top guys you always expect them to come back, and he did that in the second set.

“But I’ve been playing well and I felt like I had a chance of winning.”

Friday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Quarter-finals: 2-Rafael Nadal (Spain) bt 10-Richard Gasquet (France) 6-7 (12-14),

6-2, 6-1; 8-Andy Murray (Britain) bt

3-Novak Djokovic (Serbia) 6-3, 7-6 (7-3);

Nicolas Kiefer (Germany) bt 7-James Blake (US) 6-1, 6-2; Gilles Simon (France) bt Marin Cilic (Croatia) 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.

JANKOVIC MARCHES ON

LOS ANGELES: Top seed Jelena Jankovic battled to an impressive 7-5, 6-4 win over Nadia Petrova to reach the semi-finals of the Los Angeles Classic on Friday.

Jankovic, who is closing in on the world No 1 ranking, will face Dinara Safina in the last four after the Russian crushed Victoria Azarenka 6-3, 6-1.Italy’s Flavia Pennetta reached her first WTA Tour second tier semi-final with a 7-6, 3-6, 6-1 victory over 14th seed Sybille Bammer of Austria. She will face unseeded American Bethanie Mattek, who beat China’s Yuan Meng 6-2, 7-5.

Jankovic came back from breaks down in both sets to defeat Petrova, who missed an easy forehand volley to lose the first and then tossed her racket angrily into her chair.

The Russian let a 3-1 lead slip in the second and was broken to lose the match when she erred on a forehand approach shot.

“She’s really improved over the past year,” Petrova said. “She’s not just running on the baseline anymore, she’s serving better and taking the ball earlier and coming forward.”

Jankovic, who came into the tournament nursing a knee injury, said her leg was holding up well and her movement has improved with each match.

Results:

Quarter-finals: 1-Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) bt 9-Nadia Petrova (Russia) 7-5, 6-4; Bethanie Mattek (US) bt Yuan Meng (China) 6-2,

7-5; 4-Dinara Safina (Russia) bt 8-Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) 6-3, 6-1;

10-Flavia Pennetta (Italy) bt 14-Sybille Bammer (Austria) 7-6 (7-3), 3-6, 6-1.

—Reuters