Djokovic is stunned by Murray

Andy Murray ended Novak Djokovic's reign as the champion in Toronto with a straight sets quarter-final win.

Andy Murray celebrates his straight sets win over Novak Djokovic.
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TORONTO // Andy Murray finally broke his duck against Novak Djokovic as he ended the Serbian's reign as the champion in Toronto with a straight sets quarter-final win. The Scotsman had lost his four previous matches to the world No 3, but rallied superbly on Friday night to end that run and win in straight sets 6-3, 7-6.

But to reach today's final Murray is going to have to get past the world No 2 Rafael Nadal who he has never beaten before, with the clash due to take place last night. Murray, 21, was thrilled to have finally got one over on Djokovic. He said: "It's a big win mentally for me." Murray has lost all four of his matches with Nadal, with the Spaniard most recently beating him in straight sets at Wimbledon earlier this month.

But Nadal was forced to work hard to reach the last four as he defeated Richard Gasquet in three sets, 6-7, 6-2, 6-1. The Frenchman shocked Nadal by claiming the first set tiebreak. But the effort appeared to drain Gasquet and steel Nadal, who broke to take a 4-1 lead in the second and swept through eight of the next 10 games to win. He said: "He played well but later I improved a little bit my intensity, my rhythm, I start to move him a little bit more and he had a few more mistakes."

The other semi-final will pit the in-form Frenchman Gilles Simon against German journeyman Nicolas Kiefer. Simon, who knocked out the world No 1 Roger Federer outlasted the Croatian Marin Cilic 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, while Kiefer, seeking his first title in eight years, demolished the seventh-seeded American James Blake 6-1, 6-2. * Reuters