Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer Stunned in Cincinnati, Murray and Sharapova Cruise

It was quarterfinal day at the Western and Southern Open. There were three upsets, starting with No. 7 seed Mardy Fish defeating No. 2 seed Rafael Nadal 6-3, 6-4. It was his first win over Nadal in seven attempts and with it he clinched the top spot in the Olympus U.S. Open Series. In the semifinals he will play No. 4 seed Andy Murray.

Then No. 3 seed Roger Federer took the court against No. 8 seed Tomas Berdych. Berdych was in control during the whole match and defeated Federer 6-2, 7-6 (3) and will take on top seed Novak Djokovic . In the women’s doubles semifinals, Natalie Grandin and Vladimira Uhlirova defeated No. 1 seeds Kevta Peschke and Katerina Srebotnik 6-1, 6-4. They will play No. 3 seeds Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova in the final.

To start the day, Murray defeated Frenchman Gilles Simon 6-3, 6-3. Djokovic didn’t have such a straightforward match, against another Frenchman, Gael Monfils. He defeated Monfils 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

There were two walkovers today. Shuai Peng withdrew from her match against No. 13 seed Jelena Jankovic with a left hip injury. In men’s doubles, Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek withdrew from their match with Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi due to Berdych’s shoulder injury. Paes and Bhupathi will take on Bob and Mike Bryan not before 5:30 Saturday. The Bryans defeated No. 7 seeds Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski 7-6(5), 7-6(3).

Murray and Fish will start their center court match at 1 p.m. while Michael Llodra and Nenad Zimonjic will face Juan Sebastian Cabal and Florian Mayer to start proceedings on the grandstand. No. 4 seed and wild card Maria Sharapova will take on No. 2 seed Vera Zvonareva at 7 p.m. followed by No. 9 Andrea Petkovic taking on Jankovic.

There will be a wheelchair tennis exhibition at 6 p.m. on courts five and six, featuring No. 1 ranked American women’s wheelchair singles player, Emmy Kaiser.