Briton Andy Murray cleared a major hurdle in his Toronto Masters title defense by beating world No. 1 Rafa Nadal 6-3, 6-4 to storm into the final Saturday. Murray, who needed to reach the final to retain his No. 4 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. Murray's victory ended any chance of the dream final tennis fans had been hoping for between Nadal and his great rival Roger Federer. The Swiss master, who has slipped to No. 3 in the world rankings, takes on No. 2 Novak Djokovic to complete the final lineup. On Friday, Federer orchestrated a fightback from 2-5 down in the last set to rescue a 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (7-5) victory over nemesis Tomas Berdych for a place in the semifinals. The third-seeded Swiss had lost twice this season to Czech seventh seed Berdych, in Miami and in a Wimbledon quarterfinal barely six weeks ago. Revenge was sweet, though, as Federer put a polite gloss on his victory after two hours and 40 minutes. “It was a great match, but Tomas also played his role,” Federer said. Djokovic defeated French challenger Jeremy Chardy 6-2, 6-3 in the quarters. Nadal won 10 points in a row late in the match to beat Philipp Kohlschreiber 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. Murray turned in an impressive performance to end the 11-match win streak of Argentina's David Nalbandian with a 6-2, 6-2 victory. Murray called the victory perhaps his best effort of a season in which he has yet to lift a title after winning a leading six in 2009. “It was very good, I served well today and got the first good hits in in a lot of the rallies,” said Murray. “I was able to dictate a lot of the points. “It was a very good performance. It was one of the best matches I've played this year.” Ivanovic retires injured A tearful Ana Ivanovic was forced to retire with an ankle injury early in the first set of her semifinal against Kim Clijsters at the Cincinnati Open Saturday. After receiving extensive treatment she came back to court but was clearly in pain and had to retire. The set stood at 2-1 for Clijsters who had broken Ivanovic's second service game. Clijsters will face the winner of the all-Russian semifinal between Maria Sharapova and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. It was a huge disappointment for former world No. 1 Ivanovic. Trying to claw her way back up the rankings, she had looked in good form during the week, reaching her second semi-final of the year. Clijsters, the defending US Open champion, said she hoped the injury healed quickly. “She is doing well again and then something like this happens, I hope she is OK and it is nothing too serious and she will be OK for the US Open,” she said. The first round of the US Open begins on Aug. 30. Clijsters, who made her return to tennis at this event last year ahead of her second Grand Slam title at the US Open, ousted Italy's Flavia Pennetta 7-6 (8-6), 6-4. Clijsters, who had taken a two-year break to start a family, fired seven aces and connected on 67 percent of her first serves but the Italian would not go out easily, saving 11 of 14 break-point chances by Clijsters. Ivanovic dominated without facing a break point in a 6-1, 6-3 triumph over 114th-ranked qualifier Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan. Sharapova eliminated France's Marion Bartoli 6-1, 6-4 and Pavlyuchenkova outlasted Belgium's Yanina Wickmayer 7-5, 3-6, 6
