TORONTO (AP)—Defending champion Andy Murray cruised past David Nalbandian 6-2, 6-2 to advance to the semifinals at the Rogers Cup.

The fourth-seeded Murray needed just 69 minutes to complete the victory and snap Nalbandian’s 11-match winning streak.

Murray will play either top-seeded Rafael Nadal of Spain or Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany on Saturday.

Second-seeded Novak Djokovic of Serbia and third-seeded Roger Federer are scheduled to play their quarterfinal matches Friday evening. Federer will meet seventh-seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, while Djokovic will face Jeremy Chardy of France.

TORONTO (AP)—Third-seeded Roger Federer advanced to the quarterfinals of the Rogers Cup with a 7-6 (2), 6-3 victory over Michael Llodra of France on Thursday.

Federer, who won here in 2004 and 2006, lost his serve twice but had a much better second serve. He will next play No. 7 seed Tomas Berdych for the first time since losing to the Czech in the Wimbledon quarterfinals. Berdych edged Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-4.

Top-seeded Rafael Nadal of Spain, second-seeded Novak Djokovic of Serbia and fourth-seeded Andy Murray of Britain also posted victories to move on to the final eight.

Llodra picked up a souvenir after shaking hands with the two-time champion, asking Federer for his pink tennis shirt.

“Roger is a legend,” Llodra said. “It’s a good present for my kids.”

In the second set, Llodra tried to put off Federer with a rare underhand serve.

“It’s the first time I got an underarm serve,” Federer said with a laugh. “The third time somebody asked me for the shirt.”

Llodra put spin on it, causing the ball to go sideways when it hit the court. Federer seemed ready to swat a forehand winner but instead barely got his racket on the ball, sending it well wide.

“I just wanted to make something special,” Llodra said.

Federer appeared comfortable throughout the match. He said he enjoyed the change of pace.

“This is how (the game) used to be played,” Federer said. “You rather hit a volley than a passing shot. And he’s a good volleyer, a good athlete at the net and that’s why you want to try to move forward early on in the point.”

The top two seeds posted straight-set victories as Djokovic downed Victor Hanescu of Romania 6-3, 6-4 while Nadal beat South African qualifier Kevin Anderson 6-2, 7-6 (6).

Murray held off Gael Monfils of France 6-2, 0-6, 6-3 to set up a quarterfinal with Argentina’s David Nalbandian, who stretched his winning streak to 11 matches with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory over fifth-seeded Robin Soderling of Sweden.

Nalbandian withstood 14 aces and served eight double faults. He won his 11th career title in Washington last weekend.

Jeremy Chardy of France scored an upset with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over sixth-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko and Germany’s Phillipp Kohlschreiber defeated Lu Yen-hsun of Taiwan 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-0.

Chardy will play Djokovic in the next round while Kohlschreiber will play Nadal.

TORONTO (AP)—Rafael Nadal stood out under overcast skies with a fluorescent pink shirt and a headband that glowed under the lights, but the world’s top-ranked tennis player had to work hard to distinguish himself against his first opponent at the Rogers Cup on Wednesday night.

The 24-year-old wrestled through a marathon first-set tiebreak before he was finally able to shake Swiss challenger Stanislas Wawrinka with a 7-6 (12), 6-3 win.

“My goal was to win,” Nadal said. “When you come back after [some] time without playing, tournaments are always difficult. I just tried my best and tried to find my rhythm.”

Nadal arrived in Toronto in the midst of a season he aptly described as being “more than a dream,” having acquired the French Open and Wimbledon titles among five tournament victories on the ATP tour.

He proclaimed himself to be in fine physical fitness, with no concern for his meddlesome knees as he sought to recapture a title he last won two years ago. Nadal has twice won the Canadian event, having defeated none other than Andre Agassi for his first title in 2005.

Wawrinka, ranked 24th in the world, is not in that class, though it was often hard to tell on Wednesday night. The 25-year-old from Switzerland battled Nadal through the first set, breaking the Spaniard’s serve moments after he had his serve broken.

He matched Nadal deep into the first set tiebreak, fending off whatever the lanky Spaniard could muster. Nadal had a chance to put it away at 10-9, but sent his return into the net as Wawrinka tumbled to the ground on the other side.

Nadal finally took it, 14-12, on serve, to end the first set after 92 minutes. It matched the longest tiebreak of Nadal’s career—a mark he set two years ago in the quarter-final round of the Canadian event.

“There’s a lot of pressure on every point,” Nadal said. “But if you win, it gives you a lot of confidence.”

He broke a tiring Wawrinka to go up 3-1 in the second set, and will face South Africa’s Kevin Anderson on Thursday.

“I had difficult moments, I had moments where I played well,” Nadal said. “I did a little bit of everything, and that’s very positive.”

Novak Djokovic earned a 7-5, 7-5 win over France’s Julien Benneteau earlier on Wednesday. Andy Murray, the defending champion who is ranked fourth in the world, beat Belgium’s Xavier Malisse 7-5, 6-2.

“I feel good,” Murray said. “Today could have been a little bit better from the start, but the first one’s tough and I was playing against a very good player.”

Djokovic won the Canadian tournament three years ago, having beaten both Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. He has reached the quarterfinals in each of the past two years.

The 23-year-old arrived to a rude reception in Toronto earlier this week. He and Nadal were ousted from doubles.

Russian Nikolay Davydenko rolled to a 7-5, 6-1 win over Italian Fabio Fognini in an early match.

TORONTO (AP)—Novak Djokovic earned a 7-5, 7-5 win over France’s Julien Benneteau on Wednesday at the Rogers Cup.

Andy Murray, the defending champion who is ranked fourth in the world, beat Belgium’s Xavier Malisse 7-5, 6-2.

Djokovic won the Canadian tournament three years ago, having beaten both Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. He has reached the quarterfinals in each of the past two years.

The 23-year-old arrived to a rude reception in Toronto earlier this week. He and Nadal were ousted from doubles.

Russian Nikolay Davydenko rolled to a 7-5, 6-1 win over Italian Fabio Fognini in an early match.

Nadal, the world No. 1, will take center stage Wednesday night. He will face Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka.

Today, at approximately 3:00 P.M., after three days of increasingly stinging, increasingly suffocating humidity, the Rogers Cup, otherwise known as the Rogers Death
March, boiled over. The most obvious
effects of the weather were seen in the stadium court, where Novak Djokovic and
Julien Benneteau, hat brims pulled to eye level, sagged their way through two
close sets. Djokovic, beet red and sucking wind, might not have survived a
third. But he still might have outlasted Benneteau.

The boiling point was not reached in the stadium,
but out on modest Court 1, where Nicolas Almagro was playing Michael Llodra. I’d
braved the sun to get a closer glimpse of Almagro, a talented and volatile
Spaniard who had recently become the latest in a long list of men’s players
this year to reach bandwagon status. His run had begun in May in Madrid, where’d he
shown uncharacteristic positive energy in winning a series of close matches
before finally succumbing to Rafael Nadal; but not before taking a rare set from
Rafa on clay in the semis. Almagro capped his 2010 surge a couple of weeks
ago, again on clay, with a win over Richard Gasquet in the Gstaad final.

Was there reason to hope for more? Almagro has always been a
spectacular shot-maker, with an impeccably timed gun for a forehand, backhand, and serve. But even all of that doesn’t qualify as a recipe for
success. How many spectacular winners does any pro hit over the course of a
match? A dozen, tops? Almagro swings for the fences off both sides and doesn’t like to
shift down to second gear—if you’ve got it, why not flaunt it? Years ago, I pegged him, more than Rafael Nadal, as the young Spaniard to watch. That’s how
impressive he can look, if you only look at his strokes.

Today his modern, Spanish, forehand-oriented baseline game
was matched against the aging serve-and-volley classicism of France’s over-30 Michael
Llodra. Almagro, whose shoulders-back strut and waxed-up hair makes him look like a Jersey kid trying to bluff his way past the rope at a Manhattan club,
began confidently. From up close, he has a cleaner and more versatile game than
he appears to when you see his long swing from afar. Against Llodra’s deceptively
quick lefty serve, Almagro did everything the textbook would instruct you to
do. He shortened his swing, cut off the angles by moving diagonally for his
returns, met the ball early. And it worked. He was able to snap his returns
back low and with pace. But Llodra showed what a good serving day, a net-rushing
style, and an all-time great backhand volley can do. Almagro couldn’t
crack him. As the games and holds went by, as the sun refused to hide, and as
we sat boiled in our sweat in the stands, it became pretty clear to everyone
that this was going to be a one-set match.

In fact, it ended up being a one-point match, as baseline
tennis versus serve-and-volley played to a virtual standstill until 3-3 in the
tiebreaker. Almagro had gone up 3-0 to start, but Llodra had gotten back in it with strong serving. At 3-3, Llodra was able to return a serve, find his way to the
net, and put away an overhead. The two held until 6-5, when Llodra slid a serve
wide into the ad court to earn an easy forehand volley for the set. When
that ball went past him, Almagro stood and looked dpwn at the court for a second.
Now the air felt downright cruel: He had done almost everything right, had the set in his hand, come up one rally short, and had nothing to show for it. The boiling point had nearly
arrived.

It came a few minutes later, after Almagro was broken early
in the second set. He stood at the baseline for a second before going to town on his racquet.
The sounds of it breaking were like gunshots. There wasn’t much left of his frame, or the match, after that.
After Almagro double-faulted twice to go down 2-5, he took three extra balls
and hammered practice serves with them before tossing his racquet to the
sideline. He was fried.

It’s hard to say what a loss like this means for Almagro’s
progress. Llodra was able to take the racquet out of his hand with his serve and his indestructible volleys. Almagro returned well and made him work, but it wasn’t enough. I can think of two things that his countryman Nadal
would have done differently. He would have adjusted his return position backward or
to his left, whichever worked. I didn’t notice any change in position from
Almagro (though I admit that for part of the match I might have been having trouble seeing
straight). Second, even after losing the second set, Nadal wouldn’t have succumbed
to anger. You can’t blame Almagro for having a meltdown—it was going to happen
to someone today—but Nadal has an edge in those situations because he’s one the
of the rare players who competes without anger.

Almagro falls in love with his strokes and lets his anger get to him. For all these reasons, he’s great to
watch: He puts a charge and an edge into every match he plays. But he lives on
that edge, with his shots and his emotions, for too long. In most tournaments, it’s
only a matter of time before he falls off. A long and healthy tennis life, as
dull as it may be, is lived safely inside the lines.

Yesterday afternoon I left you from a Rogers Cup
site that looked something like an oversized soup bowl. Against all odds, though, the water dried and the players were dragged bleary-eyed from their hiding
places in the lounge, handed racquets and balls, and forced to run around under the lights. You know
how on Monday I listed all the reasons I could never be a pro? Chalk this
up as another: Having to start your match five hours after you had originally
prepared your mind and body to play it. In those kinds of cases, whether it’s tennis or some other nerve-wracking activity, there typically comes a point when I just say: I don’t care what
happens, I just want it to be over. That must a reaction that every pro has had
to ignore or fight off hundreds of times.

By my estimation, three things of note happened during
Monday’s second half. Ernests Gulbis won a tennis match. It’s true, even if only a handful of people witnessed it—you really could hear crickets chirping all around the court. Gulbis was sharp to start
against Thomaz Bellucci, but exceptionally tense when he was ahead. Gulbis lost
the first three games of the second set, won five straight, then did his best
to blow that lead. When he was down on his serve, though, he threw bombs,
kept his composure, and even—now and then, here and there, you’d miss it if you
blinked—showed some positive energy. Of course, there were a few vintage Ernestsian
moments. When he was he was down 0-3, he walked past his coach, who gave him a
fist-pump and said, “Come on!” Gulbis only response was to raise his right eyebrow skeptically, as if to say, “Really? Did you just watch the last three games? What are you so excited about?” Later, after missing a backhand, Gulbis looked at his camp and said, “I
don’t feel it. I can’t feel it,” as if all was lost. On the next point, he wrist-snapped
a brilliant short backhand up the line for a passing shot winner that gave him a break. There’s a touch of the tortured genius in Gulbis, though the emphasis so far in his career has been on the first word. A W is a W, but the main
reason he won this match was that Bellucci, whenever it mattered, was reliably godawful.

The next must-see event was Roger Federer’s first
post-Wimbledon press conference. This was notable for (1) the length of Federer’s
answers—did he miss us? (2) his professed willingness at some point to play
doubles with Rafael Nadal; (3) his assertion that he’ll do a trial run with
Paul Annacone as coach through the U.S. Open; and (4) his upbeat attitude about
having his kids on the road—“we put tennis first and family first.” Federer
also referred to his life as “superstable.” All in all, sitting in a civilized and untwitchy posture, with his legs crossed in front of him, he appeared to be a man naturally and powerfully drawn to success.
I am now officially waiting for a “Roger Federer’s 7 secrets to living your dream
life” book series (really, I am, I can use it).

Later, too much later, we finally had a chance to see the No. 1 and 2 players, Nadal and Novak Djokovic, line up on the same side of the court for the first time since Ashe
and Connors did it in 1976. While Rafa and Nole weren’t as odd a couple as
those two must have been, they didn’t exactly gel as a team, losing to two gawky young
unknowns in a super-tiebreaker. With the no-ad scoring and the promise of
fireworks afterword, there was an exhibition-like feel to the evening. I didn’t
see the whole thing, but from what I did see, Nadal looked energized while
Djokovic looked flat. He missed returns and didn’t close at the net (a classic singles player mistake).
Their opponents were tall and rangy and knew their doubles. They beat
Nadal and Djokovic a number of times by simply going up the middle on them.

On the one hand, I’m surprised they lost, because Nadal had
single-handedly won the doubles event at Indian Wells this spring, and the
format gives him a chance to show a more aggressive and creative side to his
game that he subdues for practical reasons in singles—he really can hit a stab
volley lob winner. But I’m not really all that surprised. They would have had
to play again this afternoon, and their partnership had already caused the
tournament headaches. Before the event, officials had tried to sell tickets by
announcing that Djokovic would play Tuesday night. That didn’t work with his
doubles, so they had to move him to Wednesday afternoon. Big-name dubs will
never be a sure thing on this tour. The Lavers and Rosewalls of the world played it because
they needed the money. Now the top singles players run the show, and they obviously
don’t need the extra cash. Conflicting agendas can make these
partnerships as much trouble as fun. Still, a Federer-Nadal combination would
be more than worth whatever it takes to make it happen.

***

That brings us to Tuesday, when the weather is supposed to improve. What should we be looking for?

I’ll be curious about Sergiy Stakhovsky and Tomas Berdych.
One is coming off a Wimbledon final, the other an upset of a former Top Tenner. How
good is the late-blooming Stakhovsky? This may give us an idea.

After that, we’ll get another curiosity: Ferrer vs.
Nalbandian. This potentially superb matchup will hang on Nalby’s fitness.
Unfortunately, that’s never something you want to hang anything on. Ditto for
Baghdatis vs. Chardy on the Grandstand.

Then it’s Ernests vs. Soderling, a heavyweight slugfest (ugfest?) if
there ever was one. Gulbis finished late last night, so you have to like
Soderling.

I’ll also be heading out to tiny Court 1 to watch two Americans, Sam
Querrey and Michael Russell, face off. It might not be much of a battle,
considering that Russell lists Querrey among his least-favorite opponents right
on the ATP’s website. But this 32-year-old has plugged away and survived
for much longer than anyone would have expected. Russell also plays with
pleasure and perspective, rather than the vicious focus that’s been the norm
for so long. We’ll see where that gets him, and what kind of form Sam is in.

***

Enjoy all of it, if you can see it. I’ll be back later.

PS: Can someone name the song where I got the (admittedly odd) name of this post?

Though the doubles experiment between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic ended quickly at the Rogers Cup (the world No. 1 and No. 2 singles players lost in the first round on Monday night), that didn’t stop Roger Federer from speculating about his future in doubles, including the possibility of playing with the aforementioned Mr. Nadal.

In an interview prior to his first tournament since Wimbledon, the 16-time Grand Slam champion was asked two questions about the suddenly hot (or not as frigid as it used to be) event:

Q. Can you tell us why you’re not entered into the doubles here in Toronto this year? What’s your take on the pairing of Nadal and Djokovic, the world’s No. 1 and 2 players together?

ROGER FEDERER: Um, yeah, I think it’s always fun when singles guys enter the doubles at tournaments. You know, I do it occasionally. Now having, you know, Paul around, I didn’t want to spend extra time on, you know, warming up for doubles or thinking about it. I just wanted to focus on singles and getting back onto the tour, even though usually after six weeks’ break or so I do come back and like to have that extra doubles match maybe.

But I didn’t choose to, but I think it’s great Nadal is playing with Novak. They know each other. We all know each other. We’ve been on the council, and they have the same guy who handles the press. So I’m sure they’re very friendly and it’s great for the fans, good for the game, so I’m for it.

Q. Just to add on to the doubles question quickly from earlier, do you feel you’d ever play with Nadal if he asked you to play doubles together, or like a Djokovic, or do you view that as a conflict of interest?

ROGER FEDERER: Well, Rafa asked me a few years ago to play doubles in I think it was Madrid indoors or so, but then I think our rivalry was so intense, I just felt like it was the wrong thing to do. Like you say, could be like a conflict and not something we should be doing.

It would have been great for the game, but I think it would have been a bit of a curveball for everybody. It was fierce rivals, now all a sudden they’re being friendly. I don’t think the press would have enjoyed that so much. They want to put us against each other, not with each other. But today I think we’re much more laid back, me especially, too, because I didn’t have a rival for a long period of time, and then Rafa came up and there was — it was great, you know, but I just didn’t feel like we needed to play doubles together.

No, I would see myself playing with Rafa. It’s just, if I do play, I want to play with my friends from Switzerland, help those guys out, and I don’t know, play with other top guys. I could imagine myself doing that.

Even though he’s talking in circles, I get what Fed’s talking about. He didn’t want to play doubles with Nadal because, well, he didn’t want to play doubles with Nadal. There doesn’t need to be any reason beyond that. It didn’t feel right, like Peyton Manning summering with Tom Brady at the Cape or LeBron James deciding to join Dwyane Wade’s team (wait, forget that last one). 

One could have a field day analyzing the psychological underpinnings of Federer’s comments, by the way. Why does he feel Rafa isn’t a fierce rival anymore? Why is he more laid back than before? And which other top guys does he want to play with?

For what it’s worth, I’d like to see Rafa and Roger each partner with a Bryan brother and play a match. It would be fun and save Roger the angst of having to avoid becoming friendly with Nadal.

Racquet clap for Tennis X for the interview transcription.

TORONTO (AP)—Since his last competitive match, Roger Federer has fought off aches and illness, fallen from No. 1 in the rankings and hired a coach.

Now his body feels better. Whether his game is improved will be seen starting Tuesday, when he begins play at the Rogers Cup in the second round.

“Being ranked No. 3 in the world is something I haven’t been in a very long time,” Federer said Monday. “I’m doing all the right things. It’s, to me, just a matter of time. But guys are getting good and it’s inspiring for me also to get better.”

Federer has won 62 singles titles on the ATP World Tour, but only one this year.

He took the Australian Open in January—his 16th Grand Slam title—but was forced to withdraw from a tournament in Dubai the following month with a lung infection. He has not played competitively since his quarterfinal loss to Tomas Berdych at Wimbledon in June.

He has spent several weeks working with Paul Annacone, whose former pupils include Pete Sampras and Marat Safin.

“I don’t think I was frustrated after my loss from Wimbledon,” Federer said. “I was disappointed that my body wasn’t holding up and that Berdych played such a good match and that I couldn’t defend my Wimbledon dream again.”

The third-seeded Federer will face Juan Ignacio Chela, who advanced with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Alejandro Falla.

The top eight seeds were granted byes into the second round but the crowd had plenty to cheer about Monday when three Canadians pulled off a couple of upsets.

First, Peter Polansky beat No. 13 seed Jurgen Melzer 7-6, 6-4. Then the doubles team of Vasek Pospisil and Milos Raonic outlasted Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic—the No. 1- and No. 2-ranked players in the world, respectively—5-7, 6-3, 10-8 in their first-round doubles match.

“What I’m most proud of tonight is how I stayed focused in front of a big crowd at home,” Polansky said. “I just played my game throughout the match without too many nerves.”

Also, Sergiy Stakhovsky defeated Richard Gasquet 7-5, 6-1, Tommy Robredo topped Jarkko Nieminen 6-1, 6-4, Kevin Anderson beat Leonardo Mayer 7-6 (2), 6-4, Julian Benneteau ousted Denis Istomin 6-4, 6-4 and Victor Hanescu beat 19-year-old Raonic 6-4, 6-4.