Jo-Wilfried Tsonga continued to lay waste to tennis’ top names at the Rogers Cup, beating Andy Murray to reach the semi-finals in Toronto.
Having beaten world number one Novak Djokovic, 13th seed Tsonga added the scalp of Britain’s two-time grand slam champion Murray in three sets.
Read more: Honeymoon over in Toronto as Novak Djokovic falls to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
The Scot lost a tight opener on the tie-break and appeared set to bow out at the quarter-final stage when he offered up two break points at 4-4 in the second.
He hung tough to save his serve, though, and then broke the Frenchman before running away into a 3-0 lead in the decider.
But he inexplicably crumbled, losing five games in a row before slumping to a 7-6 (7/5) 4-6 6-4 loss.
Tsonga told the ATP Tour’s official website: “I had my hand on the match at the beginning and then he came back. Then I was a little bit down.
“I just stayed focused, tried to be a little bit more aggressive because I was a little bit flat after losing the second set.
“(In the third set) he gave me one or two points that he didn’t give me since the start of the second set and then I broke back and I won it.”
Tsonga’s next opponent will be Grigor Dimitrov, who came from a set down to beat giant South African Kevin Anderson 5-7 7-5 7-6 (8/6).
World number three Roger Federer celebrated his 33rd birthday with a 6-3 4-6 6-3 win over David Ferrer.
The Swiss 17-time grand slam winner allowed his momentum to slip in the second set but was otherwise in strong form, serving the only seven aces of the match and breaking serve five times.
He will face Feliciano Lopez, who followed up his win over Tomas Berdych with another valiant three-set effort to overcome sixth seed Milos Raonic 6-4 6-7 (5/7) 6-3.
Lopez’s solid serving saw him through the match’s trickiest moments - most notably at 2-2 in the third set, when he saved nine break points.
Follow our sports coverage on twitter at @SprtNationalUAE