Frenchman Gael Monfils maintained his run of brilliant form when he nullified Milos Raonic’s big serve to eliminate the local favourite from the Rogers Cup in Toronto, Canada.

Monfils displayed his renowned athleticism in a high-quality quarter-final, relying on his lightning-fast court coverage to manufacture a 6-4 6-4 victory over the losing Wimbledon finalist.

The 10th seed set up a semi-final against top seed Novak Djokovic, who overcame poor serving and 33 unforced errors to beat Czech Tomas Berdych 7-6 6-4 in an error-riddled match.

Second seed Stan Wawrinka and third seed Kei Nishikori were playing in the other semi-final last night.

Djokovic staved off three set points in a first set tie-break before improving his career record against Berdych to 25-2.

He admitted he was lucky to advance after saving seven of eight break points.

“Bit fortunate I must say,” he said.

“My serve just wasn’t right today. I just lost my rhythm, and he was taking over control of my second serve, attacking it.

“On a quick surface like this you need a good serve. Today it wasn’t to be but I won in straight sets.”

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