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Swiss second seed Stan Wawrinka advanced into the semi-finals at the Rogers Cup with a comprehensive 6-1, 6-3 victory over big-serving South African Kevin Anderson at the Aviva Centre in Toronto on Friday.
Wawrinka raced into a 4-0 lead as he swept through the opening set in 30 minutes, and then overcame tougher resistance by Anderson in the second before wrapping up the win in one hour, 14 minutes.
The 31-year-old from Lausanne, who hit 14 winners and lost only five of his first service points, will next face Japanese third seed Kei Nishikori, who battled past unseeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 in the last eight.
"I started really well from the first game," said Wawrinka, a two-times grand slam champion who is seeking his 15th ATP World Tour title.
"It showed me that I was ready, aggressive, moving really well.
"It's one of the best matches of the year I played, I think. I was calm. Serving really good. Mixing a lot. I was reading the game well, good in defence and found a way to come back and attack."
Nishikori, who reached the final in Miami and the last four in both Madrid and Rome in ATP Masters 1000 events earlier this season, beat Dimitrov in a see-sawing encounter that lasted just over two hours.
Later on Friday, top-seeded Serb Novak Djokovic was scheduled to meet Czech fifth seed Tomas Berdych before local favourite Milos Raonic, the fourth seed, takes on Frenchman Gael Monfils.
Kerber, Halep set for Wimbledon rematch in Montreal
Angelique Kerber cruised past Daria Kasatkina 6-2, 6-2 to reach the last four of the Rogers Cup on Friday, where she will reprise her Wimbledon quarter-final clash with Simona Halep after the Romanian beat ninth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Fifth seed Halep had the tougher quarter-final, recovering from a rough start to beat Kuznetsova 3-6, 6-1, 6-1.
Halep dropped serve three times in the first set but did not face a single break point after that.
"It was very tough," said Halep, who was beaten by Kerber at Wimbledon on July 5.
"She played very well and she's very strong so I knew it was going to be like this.
"I was a little bit nervous at the beginning of the match and I didn't really feel the ball. But I just tried to be aggressive and play my game ... I was fighting today."
Second seed Kerber had a much easier day, taking only an hour to beat unseeded Russian Kasatkina.
"I think I played really well today and it's really nice to be in the semis for the first time in Montréal," said the Australian Open champion.
"I was trying to focus on my game because it was the first time I met her and it worked."
The other semi-final will pit 10th seeded American Madison Keys against unseeded Slovakian Kristina Kucova.
Keys won a topsy-turvy quarter-final against 16th seeded Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-6(3), 1-6, 6-0 in the early evening match.
Kucova eliminated British 15th seed Johanna Konta 6-4, 6-3 in the night match.
