Nadal eliminated

Rafael Nadal was upset by Tomas Berdych and Roger Federer survived a scare in the Toronto Masters third round on Thursday, ending hopes of a dream final between the world's top two players.

Playing their first tournament since meeting in the Wimbledon final, both Federer and Nadal displayed signs of rust from their month-long breaks.

In Nadal's case the lay-off proved lethal, the Spaniard unable to find any rhythm in a 6-1 3-6 6-2 loss to Czech Berdych, only his sixth defeat of the season.

Federer, who celebrated his 25th birthday on Tuesday, looked ready to move back into top gear with routine wins in the opening two rounds but was less impressive in a 6-3 5-7 6-0 victory over Russia's Dimtry Tursunov to reach the quarter-finals.

The world's two top-ranked players, Federer and Nadal have met in five finals this year and had appeared headed for another showdown tomorrow.

"Honestly, I wasn't thinking of a rematch between the two of us because the road is just too long to the finals for the both of us," Federer told reporters.

While Nadal had advanced to the third round with minimum fuss, there were signs of rust all over his game which Berdych exploited to the full.

The Czech completed the upset in style, breaking Nadal to set up a quarter-final meeting with Frenchman Richard Gasquet.

Earlier, Chilean Fernando Gonzalez booked his place in the quarter-finals, outlasting fourth seed Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia 6-4 6-7 7-6 in a three-hour centre court marathon.

Britain's Andy Murray continued his excellent run, easing past Carlos Moya 6-2 6-4. The 19-year-old Briton will play Finland's Jarkko Nieminen, who advanced with a 3-6 6-3 7-6 win over Italy's Davide Sanguinetti. Gasquet advanced with a 6-0 4-6 6-2 win over Fernando Verdasco.

QF result: Gasquet bt Berdych 6-4 6-1.

Los Angeles Open

Serena Williams had to battle from a set down in the third round to join top seed Maria Sharapova in the Los Angeles Open quarter-finals.

Playing her second tournament in seven months because of a knee injury, Williams overcame Daniela Hantuchova 1-6 6-3 6-3 in a match littered with rasping winners and unforced errors.

Sharapova, however, made short work of Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli with a 6-1 6-2 demolition to complete her seventh victory in a row and sets up a meeting with compatriot Dinara Safina in the last eight.