<p>Seeded third at a tournament for the first time since 2003, Federer arrived in Toronto to talk his career was starting to fade, but the Swiss has shined on the Canadian hardcourts and will now play champion Andy Murray for the title on Sunday. <br /><br />Britain's Murray had earlier brushed aside world number one Rafa Nadal 6-3, 6-4 to spoil any chance of a dream final between the Spaniard and his great Swiss rival, who has battled tooth and nail to win two three setters and reach the Canadian final for the fourth time. <br /><br />A day after gaining revenge on his Wimbledon conqueror Tomas Berdych in a nearly three hour match that was decided by a third set tiebreak, Federer was forced again to fend off a determined fightback from Djokovic. <br /><br />Federer, twice a winner in Canada, raced through the first set in just 25 minutes and after surging ahead 2-0 in the second had looked poised for a quick match. <br />But he suddenly lost his way and Djokovic seized his chance, breaking Federer twice to send the match into a decider. <br /><br />The third set swayed back and forth and appeared headed for another tiebreak until Federer broke Djokovic at 6-5 clinching the match on his first match point. <br />Federer will replace Djokovic as world number two on Monday and will set his sights on retaking number one from Nadal. The Swiss has spent 285 weeks at the top of the rankings and needs only one more to match Pete Sampras's record of 286. <br />Murray, who needed to reach Sunday's final to retain his number four world ranking, can now focus on clinching his first title of the season and becoming the first back-to-back winner on the Canadian hardcourts since Andre Agassi in 1995. <br />It was a stunningly complete performance by the 23-year-old Scot who refused to be pushed around by the muscular Spaniard and in the end walked off with his fourth win in 12 career meetings - all coming on hardcourts. <br /><br />Meanwhile, Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi’s run at Toronto ended with the semifinal defeat against Mike and Bob Bryan. The fourth-seeded Indo-Belarusian pair lost 6-4, 3-6, 4-10 to the second-seeded Americans.<br /><br />It’s Sharapova vs Clijsters <br />Maria Sharapova will meet Kim Clijsters in the final of the Cincinnati Open on Sunday after the pair came through contrasting semifinal ties. <br /><br />Belgian Clijsters advanced after her Serbian opponent Ana Ivanovic retired with ankle ligament injury early in the first set, while Sharapova had to battle through three tough sets to beat fellow Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 and reach her second final in successive tournaments. <br /><br />In a fascinating encounter, the three-time Grand Slam winner Sharapova never truly dominated her determined 19-year-old opponent until she broke in the third set to take a 4-2 lead. <br /><br />While Clijsters, now a full year into her comeback, will be a tough opponent for Sharapova, the Belgian reached the final with little effort after a tearful Ivanovic was forced to quit. <br /><br />Ivanovic had made a fairly routine return with the score 2-1 to Clijsters in the first set but then pulled up and had to receive extensive treatment. The former world number one returned but was visibly in pain and had to retire. The Serb said the injury was not a recurrence of any previous problem and tests showed she had strained ankle ligaments.</p>
<p>Seeded third at a tournament for the first time since 2003, Federer arrived in Toronto to talk his career was starting to fade, but the Swiss has shined on the Canadian hardcourts and will now play champion Andy Murray for the title on Sunday. <br /><br />Britain's Murray had earlier brushed aside world number one Rafa Nadal 6-3, 6-4 to spoil any chance of a dream final between the Spaniard and his great Swiss rival, who has battled tooth and nail to win two three setters and reach the Canadian final for the fourth time. <br /><br />A day after gaining revenge on his Wimbledon conqueror Tomas Berdych in a nearly three hour match that was decided by a third set tiebreak, Federer was forced again to fend off a determined fightback from Djokovic. <br /><br />Federer, twice a winner in Canada, raced through the first set in just 25 minutes and after surging ahead 2-0 in the second had looked poised for a quick match. <br />But he suddenly lost his way and Djokovic seized his chance, breaking Federer twice to send the match into a decider. <br /><br />The third set swayed back and forth and appeared headed for another tiebreak until Federer broke Djokovic at 6-5 clinching the match on his first match point. <br />Federer will replace Djokovic as world number two on Monday and will set his sights on retaking number one from Nadal. The Swiss has spent 285 weeks at the top of the rankings and needs only one more to match Pete Sampras's record of 286. <br />Murray, who needed to reach Sunday's final to retain his number four world ranking, can now focus on clinching his first title of the season and becoming the first back-to-back winner on the Canadian hardcourts since Andre Agassi in 1995. <br />It was a stunningly complete performance by the 23-year-old Scot who refused to be pushed around by the muscular Spaniard and in the end walked off with his fourth win in 12 career meetings - all coming on hardcourts. <br /><br />Meanwhile, Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi’s run at Toronto ended with the semifinal defeat against Mike and Bob Bryan. The fourth-seeded Indo-Belarusian pair lost 6-4, 3-6, 4-10 to the second-seeded Americans.<br /><br />It’s Sharapova vs Clijsters <br />Maria Sharapova will meet Kim Clijsters in the final of the Cincinnati Open on Sunday after the pair came through contrasting semifinal ties. <br /><br />Belgian Clijsters advanced after her Serbian opponent Ana Ivanovic retired with ankle ligament injury early in the first set, while Sharapova had to battle through three tough sets to beat fellow Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 and reach her second final in successive tournaments. <br /><br />In a fascinating encounter, the three-time Grand Slam winner Sharapova never truly dominated her determined 19-year-old opponent until she broke in the third set to take a 4-2 lead. <br /><br />While Clijsters, now a full year into her comeback, will be a tough opponent for Sharapova, the Belgian reached the final with little effort after a tearful Ivanovic was forced to quit. <br /><br />Ivanovic had made a fairly routine return with the score 2-1 to Clijsters in the first set but then pulled up and had to receive extensive treatment. The former world number one returned but was visibly in pain and had to retire. The Serb said the injury was not a recurrence of any previous problem and tests showed she had strained ankle ligaments.</p>
