Kei Nishikori (picture) swept aside Rafa Nadal in the quarter-finals of the Rogers Cup in Montreal with a swift 6-2 6-4 victory, while world number one Novak Djokovic saved two match points before beating Latvian Ernests Gulbis.

Japan’s Nishikori, seeded fourth, took just 82 minutes to beat the Spaniard, a 14-times grand slam champion and a winner three times at the Rogers Cup.

“I was close in Madrid, but today I was dominating everything,” said Nishikori after getting his first win over Nadal in eight attempts.

“I needed to change some of my tactics when playing against Rafa. I had to play 100 per cent to beat him.”

Nishikori will next meet Andy Murray in the semi-finals after the Briton defeated defending champ Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, of France, 6-4 6-4.

Nishikori won his third title of the season in Washington last week and is hitting his stride ahead of the US Open. The 25-year-old reached the final at Flushing Meadows last year only to lose in straight sets to Marin Cilic.

Djokovic almost joined Nadal on the way out but rallied from a set down to beat Gulbis 5-7 7-6 6-1, setting up a semi-final with Jeremy Chardy.

The Serb, who is looking for a fourth Canadian crown, said he would have had no complaints had Gulbis beat him.

“You have to give credit to (Gulbis) for playing an excellent match,” Djokovic said.

“He was making me play an extra shot, and putting a lot of pressure on my second serve.”

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.