By DPA
Montreal : Rafael Nadal rallied against inspired Canadian slugger Frank Dancevic 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 to squeeze out a hard-fought win into the semi-final of the Montreal Masters.
Defending champion Roger Federer earlier pounded out a 10th straight win over Lleyton Hewitt to advance 6-3, 6-4 while third seed Novak Djokovic defeated former winner Andy Roddick 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 here Friday.
Djokovic next plays Nadal, who has won five of their six matches, while Federer will put a 2-1 record against Radek Stepanek on the line in the semi-finals after the Czech upset fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko 6-4, 7-5.
Victory in Nadal’s emotion-charged night-time contest was a close affair, with the Spaniard dropping the first set and saving seven break points to salvage the second.
In the third, the 91st-ranked Dancevic, a surprise finalist a fortnight ago in Indianapolis, had continued treatment on his back but still provided thrills before finally falling.
“It was a beautiful match, he played very well,” said Nadal. “It was tough for me out there.”
Federer nosed home against Hewitt in fewer than 90 minutes as he recovered from the first break he has suffered this week during his first event since winning a record fifth successive Wimbledon crown a month ago
Federer was fresh from a 44-minute win the day before, while Hewitt stayed on court more than three hours as Dominik Hrbaty saved two match points in the previous round.
Serb Djokovic came through a tough match with American Roddick in the pair’s first meeting.
“I didn’t play as well from the baseline as I did in my first two matches,” said Djokovic. “It was a difficult match mentally and I survived it. It’s always good to win when you don’t play your best.”
Federer’s next opponent, the 60th-ranked Stepanek and future husband of Martina Hingis, has been recovering from a nerve injury that affected feeling in his right hitting hand.
After missing the last six months of 2006, he had a slow go in the opening stages of this season.
“I made only once the third round in six months, I took some time off, was home for 10 days working hard, and then decided to play (qualifiers) in Gstaad (July) to get some matches,” he said.
Berdych came through against Davydenko, who is under pressure off court as the ATP conducts a match-fix probe involving him and is also labouring with a foot stress fracture.
Federer is hoping to claim a 50th career title. He stands 12-7 over Hewitt, who broke Federer in the fourth game of the second set before losing the edge three games later.
Federer now owns 15 straight Canadian wins and holds two of the last three titles after beating Roddick in 2004 in Toronto and winning the trophy last year over Richard Gasquet.