Roger Federer and Canadian teen Denis Shapovalov reach Rogers Cup semi-finals in Montreal
Swiss ace beats Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain 6-4, 6-4, while home favourite adds France’s Adrian Mannarino to the earlier scalps of Juan Martin Del Potro and Rafael Nadal
Roger Federer advanced to the semi-finals of the Rogers Cup and was joined later by Canadian teenager Denis Shapovalov, who followed his upset of Rafael Nadal with another three-set victory.
Second-seeded Federer continued his mastery over 12th-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain with a 6-4, 6-4 victory.
The 36-year-old Swiss will next face unseeded Dutchman Robin Haase, who was a a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 winner over Diego Schwartzman of Argentina.
Federer has won all seven career matches and taken all 16 sets against the 29-year-old Bautista Agut, while he is 1-0 against Haase after a straight-sets win in Davis Cup play in 2012.
“I’m looking forward to a tough match because he can serve very well and he mixes up his tactics a lot,” Federer said. “Sometimes he tends to just roll the ball in and use the big serve, or he uses a slice a lot and comes in.
“So I don’t quite know with Robin what I’m going to get. But, as I have practiced with him quite a bit, maybe I am better prepared than if I would have never hit with him before.”
Federer broke serve for a 5-4 lead in the first set and broke again for 2-1 in the second en route to the victory in a little more than an hour.
Federer was coming off a three-set win over another Spaniard, David Ferrer, against whom he is 17-0.
“My game plan worked better against Bautista Agut than against Ferrer,” he said.
“I believe it’s because I was more aggressive coming to the net.”
Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal stroll to victory in Rogers Cup openers
Shapovalov, meanwhile, beat France’s Adrian Mannarino 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 having already claimed the scalps of 2009 US Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro and then the top-seeded Nadal.
He broke service for a 2-1 lead in the third only to hand it back in the next game, but a roar went up when Mannarino wasted a chance to put away a game point and Shapovalov jumped on the chance to break for a 5-4 lead.
Shapovalov will face fourth seed Alexander Zverev for a place in the final after the German beat Kevin Anderson of South Africa 7-5, 6-4.
Haase, who upset seventh-seeded Grigor Dimitrov in the third round, reached his first career Masters Series semi-final with his win over Schwartzman.
The 30-year-old Haase, back to 52nd in the world after battling injuries for much of his career, improved to 5-0 against 36th-ranked Schwartzman.
“I played a lot of good matches, especially against Dimitrov,” said Haase. “It’s tough to come back and play that same level. I didn’t, but I managed to win because I kept fighting.”
