Roger Federer Punches Ticket To Montreal Masters Semis

Swiss star Roger Federer outclassed Roberto Bautista Agut as he inched closer to his sixth title of the season with a 6-4, 6-4 win in the quarter-finals of the Montreal Masters. Federer hammered five aces, made just two double faults and won 81 percent of his first serve points in the 68-minute centre court match. He dominated at the net, winning 21 of 25 points.

"It pays off playing aggressively here in Montreal, plus I feel comfortable at net, so why not spend some time there instead of slugging it out from the baseline," Federer said. "I think I did a good job again, even though it was tough to control the ball. I got some decent rhythm going."

Federer advances to the semi-finals where he will face Robin Haase of the Netherlands, who defeated Diego Schwartzman 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 earlier in the day.

Bautista Agut struggled on his serve as he was broken three times and won just 65 percent of his first serve points.

Federer posted his seventh consecutive win over the Spaniard and improved his season record to 34-2. He has a ATP Tour high five titles in 2017. He will face Dutchman Haas in just the second career meeting between the two. The pair met in a Davis Cup World Group play-off in 2012 with Federer winning 6-1, 6-4, 6-4.

Federer's chances of winning another title this season were given a boost when top seed Rafael Nadal was upset by world No. 143 Denis Shapovalov of Canada on Thursday night. Shapovalov, who needed a wild card to gain entry into the tournament, continued his cinderella run Friday by rallying to beat Frenchman Adrian Mannarino 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Mannarino became the fourth established ATP player this week to fall at the hands of the 18-year-old lefthanded Canadian. Shapovalov's win over Mannarino came just 24 hours after he defeated 10-time French Open champion Nadal to get into the quarters. Shapovalov also upset former US Open winner Juan Martin Del Potro in the second round.

Fourth seeded Alexander Zverev defeated South Africa's Kevin Anderson in straight sets 7-5, 6-4 to set up a clash of rising stars with Shapovalov.

Zverev, 20, is the youngest player ranked in the top 20 in the world and Shapovalov is the youngest since 1990 to reach a Masters 1000 quarter-final.