Tennis: Federer punches ticket to Montreal semis

[MONTREAL] Roger Federer stretched his match win streak to 15 as he outclassed Roberto Bautista Agut 6-4, 6-4 in the quarter-finals of the Montreal Masters on Friday.

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.

Federer hammered five aces, made just two double faults and won 81 per cent of his first serve points in the 68-minute centre court match.

Bautista Agut struggled mightily 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 boosted his season record to 34-2. He has a 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 his third Canadian title 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, takes on Frenchman Adrian Mannarino later in the day.

The other quarter-final features Germany's Alexander Zverev against Kevin Anderson of South Africa.

AFP