World number one Rafa Nadal fell to Cyprus's Marco Baghdatis 6-4 4-6 6-4 in the quarter-finals of the Cincinnati Masters Friday as three of the top four seeds lost out.
Britain's Andy Murray and Serbian Novak Djokovic both suffered defeats to American opponents with Mardy Fish and Andy Roddick advancing to meet each other Saturday.
The only member of the top four to progress was third-seed Roger Federer, who meets a confident Baghdatis for a spot in Sunday's final after defeating Russian Nikolay Davydenko 6-4 7-5.
Nadal was well below his best against an inspired Baghdatis, whose big serve was on full power – he blasted 18 aces while the Spaniard could manage just four.
The match turned decisively in favour of the Cypriot, who had lost all six previous meetings with Nadal when the Spaniard double-faulted at break point with the game at 4-4 in the third.
It was a mistake Nadal described as “criminal” and the 20th ranked Baghdatis served out for the win, giving himself a major confidence boost ahead of the U.S Open, which begins on August 30.
“I'm playing good; I'm feeling happy on court. I'm out of injuries. It's nice when you wake up and you don't have pain somewhere,” said the Cypriot, beaten finalist in Washington earlier this month.
An All-American semi-final is a timely boost for the game in the U.S which is currently without a top ten male player — although Roddick's win assures he is back to at least ninth in next week's rankings.
Roddick and Fish are close friends who, since their high school days, have spent many hours together practicing.
“There won't be many secrets that's for sure,” Roddick said after beating third-ranked Serb Djokovic 6-4 7-5, his booming serve looking back to its best.
But, after his win over fifth-ranked Swede Robin Soderling Thursday and his confident display against Djokovic, the Texan is looking in good shape for the U.S Open.
Fish took advantage of an exhausted world number four Murray, who wilted in 100-degree heat (38 Celsius) and lost 6-7 6-1 7-6 to the unseeded American.
Fish, ranked 36th in the world, has now beaten the Briton in three successive meetings following victories in Miami and at Queen's Club, London.
