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Murray sets up revenge chance against Federer

Murray sets up revenge chance against Federer

By REUTERS

Andy Murray, of Britain, returns to Tommy Robredo, of Spain, at the Rogers Cup tennis tournament Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2015, in Montreal. AP

Roger Federer and Andy Murray advanced to the semi-finals of the Western & Southern Open in contrasting fashion on Friday to set up a rematch of their Wimbledon clash. Federer made quick work of Spaniard Feliciano Lopez in a 6-3 6-4 quarter-final romp that lasted just over an hour. Murray needed to grind out another win against Richard Gasquet, outlasting the Frenchman 4-6 6-1 6-4 after two hours. Third seed Murray saved a match point in the third set and fought fatigue to win his second straight three-set battle. “I fought and gave everything I had, but thankfully it’s just been enough in the last two days,” Murray, who lost to Federer in straight sets in the Wimbledon semi-finals, told reporters. Earlier, top seed Novak Djokovic avenged his French Open final loss to Stan Wawrinka by crushing the Swiss 6-4 6-1. Djokovic, now two wins away from becoming the first player to win all nine ATP Masters titles, needed a mere 63 minutes to dispatch fifth seed Wawrinka in the first meeting between the players since Roland Garros. Wawrinka denied Djokovic a chance to complete a career grand slam in Paris but was wayward in Cincinnati, finishing with 33 unforced errors and pushing a backhand wide on match point. Djokovic, a four-times runner-up in Cincinnati, broke Wawrinka's serve four times and dropped just 12 points on serve in his final tune-up event ahead of the U.S. Open which starts Aug. 31. “(My performance) came at the right time against one of my biggest rivals and the guy I lost to last time we played in the finals of the French Open,' Djokovic said. 'Obviously I approached this match very seriously in trying to prepare myself and get myself in a good position to win.' The world number one next faces Ukrainian qualifier Alexandr Dolgopolov, a 6-4 6-2 winner over Czech sixth seed Tomas Berdych.