Andy Murray will play Wimbledon champion Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals of the Rogers Cup in Toronto after beating defending champion Novak Djokovic 6-3 7-6 (7/3).
The win represents one of the most impressive victories of the British number one's career - Murray having lost all four of his previous matches against his friend and former junior rival.
The Scot now faces Nadal after the world number two in turn came through his quarter-final match with Richard Gasquet 6-7 (12/14) 6-2 6-1 on Friday.
Murray was completely dominated by his next opponent at Wimbledon less than a month ago, crashing out at the quarter-final stage after losing in straight sets 6-3 6-2 6-4.
Assessing the magnitude of his win over the world number three, Murray told Sky Sports Xtra: "Mentally, that's probably the biggest one of my career. He's going to be around for a long time.
"So to come through against him, especially when he beat me convincingly four times, is very satisfying."
Although closely matched during their junior days - the Serb being one week younger - Djokovic has left Murray trailing in recent years, winning the Australian Open and comfortably beating him in their three most recent meetings.
"The last few times I've played against him, I really struggled to read his game," Murray admitted.
"But I've watched a lot of his matches lately and I've seen the patterns of play he likes to use and I read his game much better.
"He hit very few winners, I think. That was one of the most satisfying things for me."
World number nine Murray needed to be at his defensive best for long periods to repel Djokovic's powerful groundstrokes.
But his approach paid off as his opponent started to make errors - Murray breaking Djokovic once in a comfortable first set before trading two breaks in a much closer second.
Murray got off to the best possible start, breaking in game two and racing to a 3-0 lead.
The rest of the first set went with serve as Murray chased down every ball to frustrate his opponent.
The second set began equally brightly for Murray, who broke immediately to maintain his momentum.
But Djokovic then levelled after putting Murray's next service game under tremendous pressure.
At 2-2, Djokovic's forehand broke down to hand Murray another break point, which he took thanks to another error from his opponent.
Murray was a point away from a double break in game seven, but Djokovic dug his way out of trouble and immediately broke to love to level again at 4-4.
A brilliant Murray service return then set up break point again in game nine but the Serb saved.
Serving to stay in the set, Murray blew a 30-0 lead to concede set point - but Djokovic failed to capitalise.
He was made to rue that lapse in the tie-break, with Murray claiming a 6-1 lead before serving out the match.
In the second semi-final, Gasquet edged a first set that lasted 75 minutes.
However, Nadal soon returned to form as he eased to victory - his 27th in a row - with a dominant performance in the next two sets.
Naslov komentara: Tennis: Murray to play Nadal again 
Sat Jul 26, 2008 12:24 pm
but I am sorry cuz I support Djokovic...
