Roger Federer suffered a stunning collapse and Rafael Nadal’s creaky knees weren’t strong enough to carry him into the semi-finals as the world’s top two players crashed out of the Montreal Masters on Friday.
With the world’s eight top-ranked players featuring in the quarter-finals of an ATP Tour event for the first time since official rankings began in 1973, ticket-holders looked forward to a spectacular day of tennis at Stade Uniprix and were not disappointed.
Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga’s dramatic 7-6 (7/5), 1-6, 7-6 (7/3) comeback win over Swiss world No. 1 Federer set the pace, before towering Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro ended Nadal’s Montreal title defense with a clinical 7-6 (7/5), 6-1 win.
PHOTO: AP
Apart from losing the match and the championship, the Spaniard may yet lose his world No. 2 ranking tomorrow if Briton Andy Murray, who cruised to a 6-2, 6-4 quarter-final victory over Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, can reach the final.
With Federer playing his first tournament since lifting a record 15th Grand Slam title at Wimbledon and Nadal back in action after being sidelined for more than two months with knee tendonitis, there was already little hope the two could renew their great rivalry on the Canadian hard courts.
Seventh-ranked Tsonga ended any chance of a dream final early in the day, coming back from 5-1 down in the third set to hand the Swiss world No. 1 one of his most stunning defeats.
After winning five consecutive games to force the set to a tie-break, the big-hitting Frenchman triumphed 7-3 in the decider to snap a 21-match winning streak for Federer and leave the capacity center court crowd stunned.
“It happens in tennis, it’s never over until it’s over and it showed today,” Federer told reporters. “I think I should have won the first and he completely lost his game for an hour there. That’s what Jo does. He doesn’t make a return for three hours, then he puts in a few and then all of a sudden he’s back in the match. I never should have allowed it, but it did happen.”
Third seed Murray awaits Tsonga in the semi-finals, the Scotsman needing just 82 minutes under a broiling Canadian sun to dismiss eighth-ranked Russian Davydenko.
Playing his first event since falling to Andy Roddick in the Wimbledon semi-finals, Murray has quickly shaken off his vacation rust to reach the semi-finals without dropping a set and surrendering his serve only once.
A battling Nadal fought Del Potro through a marathon first set that took 78 minutes to complete and ended with the Argentine coming back from 5-2 down in the tie-break to win 7-5.
The drained Spaniard offered little resistance in a one-sided second set as Del Potro moved on to face Roddick, who booked his spot in the final four with a 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) win over fourth seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia.
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