Rogers Cup in Montreal has reached the last four stages while delivering some stunning results thorughout the current week. It's been a hellish territory for the highest seeds with many of them unable to survive the contest. Rafael Nadal is the biggest victim of the week while his executioner Denis Shapovalov, an 18-year-old Canadian rising star, is through the semis where Alexander Zverev is set to make an appearance too. The 20-year-old German is confirming his good shape keeping up the momentum he has gained last week at City Open in Washington.
But the old guard has a name of its own surviving the youngster assault as Roger Federer is close to capping his 27th Masters 1000 title overall and the third one at the Canadian Masters.
Roger Federer outclassed Roberto Bautista-Agut
In the quarterfinals, Federer had to deal with Spain's No. 2 Bautista-Agut. Entering the encounter, Federer had all the assets on his position as he had won all their six previous meetings.And he did that without losing a set against the 29-year-old Spaniard. Eventually, no changes were on their rivalry except for Federer who has just added another straight set win over the Spaniard. One break in each set was enough for him to conquer his opponent's fortress. In the semis, the 36-year-old Swiss and the second seed in Montreal will face Robin Haase (52 ATP).
In the quarterfinals, the Dutch player got past Diego Schwartzman (36 ATP) being forced to recover from a set down. In head to head stats, Federer leads Haase by 1-0 but their only meeting took place back in 2012 during a David Cup rubber between Switzerland and Netherlands.
Alexander Zverev edged Kevin Anderson
The young German star made it to the semis of an ATP tournament for the second week in a row dispatching Kevin Anderson in straight sets.
Thus, the South African lost the opportunity to take some revenge after losing against the same player in City Open final last Sunday. The gap between them was not that big but Zverev had the upper hand during the key moments of the match. One break in each set got the job done as he will face Shapovalov for a place in the big final.
The 18-year-old continues his unlikely, surreal bid as he got past Adrian Mannarino despite losing the opening set. As in the previous round against Rafael Nadal, Denis Shapovalov made quite a comeback to recover from a one-set deficit. Except for Federer and Zverev who were in the favorites' box at the end of the tournament, Haase and Shapovalov are the dark horses of 2017 Rogers Cup.
