When you subscribe we will use the information you provide to send you these newsletters. Sometimes they'll include recommendations for other related newsletters or services we offer. Our Privacy Notice explains more about how we use your data, and your rights. You can unsubscribe at any time. Federer is gearing up to play the final two months of the season and regardless of the finish, it has been another successful campaign for the world No 2. The 36-year-old became the oldest ever player to reach the top of the world rankings earlier this year after winning the Australian Open - the 20th Grand Slam of his career. But because he is reaching the latter end of his career, Federer has to pick and choose his tournaments wisely. For that reason, he skipped the clay season for the second year in a row but then failed to defend his Wimbledon title after crashing to a quarter-final defeat against Kevin Anderson.<doc-sep>Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images While we are still in the early rounds of the Rogers Cup, there were some big names in action Thursday and not all of them were able to survive the mayhem. Due to weather delays at the start of the tournament, organizers had to squeeze as many matches as possible throughout the day. This caused some players to compete in multiple singles matches in one day, which was as much of an endurance competition as it was a test of skill. This led to plenty of noteworthy moments throughout the day in Toronto. Note: Full results available at RogersCup.com. Results Men's Singles No. 5 Grigor Dimitrov def. Frances Tiafoe: 7-6(1), 3-6, 7-6(4) Video Play Button Videos you might like Stefanos Tsitsipas def. No. 9 Novak Djokovic: 6-3, 6(5)-7, 6-3 No. 2 Alexander Zverev def. Daniil Medvedev: 6-3, 6-2 No. 4 Kevin Anderson def. Ilya Ivashka: 7-5, 6-3 No. 6 Marin Cilic def. No. 11 Diego Schwartzman: 6-3, 6-2 Robin Haase def. Denis Shapovalov: 7-5, 6-2 Karen Khachanov def. No. 8 John Isner: 7-6(5), 7-6(1) No. 1 Rafael Nadal def. Stan Wawrinka: 7-5, 7-6(4) Women's Singles No. 3 Sloane Stephens def. Carla Suarez Navarro: 6-2, 7-5 No. 1 Simona Halep def. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova: 7-6(9), 4-6, 7-5 Aryna Sabalenka def. No. 2 Caroline Wozniacki: 5-7, 6-2, 7-6(4) No. 15 Ashleigh Barty def. Alize Cornet: 7-6(3), 6-4 Johanna Konta def. Victoria Azarenka: 6-3, 6-1 No. 13 Venus Williams def. Sorana Cirstea: 7-6(4), 6-4 Kiki Bertens def. No. 8 Petra Kvitova: 6-3, 6-2 Anastasija Sevastova def. No. 10 Julia Goerges: 6-3, 7-6(2) No. 5 Elina Svitolina def. Johanna Konta: 6-3, 6-4 No. 6 Caroline Garcia def. Maria Sharapova: 6-3, 6-2 No. 1 Simona Halep def. No. 13 Venus Williams: 6-2, 6-2 No. 14 Elise Mertens def. Aryna Sabalenka; 2-6, 7-6, 6-0 Notable Matches Stefanos Tsitsipas def. No. 9 Novak Djokovic: 6-3, 6(5)-7, 6-3 Novak Djokovic's first tournament since winning Wimbledon didn't exactly go as planned as he suffered a Round of 16 loss to Stefanos Tsitsipas. The Greek underdog was impressive with his serve and wasn't broken all match. He had 11 aces and won 77 percent of his total serves, including 84 percent of his first attempt. He eventually closed the match with his serve: "I feel very proud for me, myself, and my country," Tsitsipas said after the match, per ATPWorldTour.com. "I'm putting Greece more deep into the map of tennis. So I'm pretty sure I'm making my family proud, all of those people that are watching, my coach, my father. It was a very emotional win. I've never felt so many emotions after a victory." The 19-year-old was already the No. 27 player in the world entering the week and is clearly on the rise. Meanwhile, Djokovic shouldn't be too concerned about the loss but will need to have a cleaner performance if he wants to make a deep run in the U.S. Open. Aryna Sabalenka def. No. 2 Caroline Wozniacki: 5-7, 6-2, 7-6(4) Many expected Caroline Wozniacki to have two matches scheduled for Thursday, but an early loss ended her day—and her tournament—earlier than expected. The final point was a microcosm of the back-and-forth play throughout the match between these two competitors: Aryna Sabalenka won just a few more overall points than her opponent but came through when it mattered, including in the third set tiebreak. She also performed well in key points of each game, excelling in both saving her break points and forcing breaks. Meanwhile, Wozniacki was sloppy with her serve while tallying seven double faults to go with just three asses. The No. 2 player in the world is coming off a second-round loss in Wimbledon and has lost in the second round once again despite getting a bye in Round 1. This is not likely how the talented player expected her summer to go. Sabalenka couldn't keep it up in her next match, however, falling in three sets to No. 14 Elise Mertens in the third round. No. 1 Simona Halep def. No. 13 Venus Williams: 6-2, 6-2 Both Simona Halep and Venus Williams were forced to play two matches Thursday but Halep seemed much fresher in the nightcap. The No. 1 seed needed three sets to escape her second-round match against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, a battle that took more than three hours to end. However, she remained full of energy against Williams, seemingly covering the entire court: Halep was great in all aspects of the game, taking out an opponent that didn't seem like she was competing at 100 percent. Unfortunately, there won't be much time for a break as she must prepare to take on Caroline Garcia Friday. No. 1 Rafael Nadal def. Stan Wawrinka: 7-5, 7-6(4) Stan Wawrinka hasn't had a strong 2018 season as he recovers from his knee problems, but he did everything he could to beat Rafael Nadal. The top seed in the men's draw was simply too good. Wawrinka was a few points away from taking the second set before Nadal came back with three straight games, eventually closing things out with a tiebreak win to seal the match. The Spanish star looked as good as ever, hitting impossible shots throughout the day: Even when Wawrinka was playing well, Nadal would come back with a strong backhand or a forehand winner. He might have beaten at least 90 percent of competitors playing the way he did, but he ran into a dominant opponent who was able to close things out in straight sets. This is a positive step going forward for the Swiss star, although Nadal reaffirmed that he is the favorite in this event. Friday Order of Play Men's Draw No. 4 Kevin Anderson vs. No. 5 Grigor Dimitrov (12:30 p.m. ET) No. 2 Alexander Zverev vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas (Following previous match) Robin Haase vs. Karen Khachanov (Not before 6:30 p.m. ET) No. 6 Marin Cilic vs. No. 1 Rafael Nadal (Not before 8 p.m. ET) Women's Draw No. 15 Ashleigh Barty vs. Kiki Bertens (12:30 p.m. ET) No. 3 Sloane Stephens vs. Anastasija Sevastova (Following previous match) No. 1 Simona Halep vs. No.<doc-sep>Canada Open is one of the oldest tennis tournaments in the world, established in 1881, just four years after Wimbledon. It became a part of the Open era in 1969 and the list of champions in quite impressive, with Rod Laver, John Newcombe, Ilie Nastase, Guillermo Vilas, Bjorn Borg, Ivan Lendl, John McEnroe, Boris Becker, Andre Agassi, Patrick Rafter, Marat Safin, Andy Roddick, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Alexander Zverev all lifting the title here. The dominant figure in Montreal and Toronto is Ivan Lendl who has won six titles between 1980-1989 and 57 out of 66 matches in total! The Czech has played in Canada 15 times, reaching the semi-final on 11 occasions and losing the last final there in 1992 against Andre Agassi after taking the opening set. Two-time champion John McEnroe had played in Canada for 16 straight years and he won 44 matches in total for the second place on the list, suffering some unexpected losses in the early rounds and ruin a chance to grab more triumphs at this event. Andre Agassi had competed in Canada between 1989-2005, reaching the semi-final in his first appearance (lost to Lendl) and the final in the last one when he won a set against Rafael Nadal at the age of 35. A three-time champion claimed 38 wins in total in Toronto and Montreal, dominating with three titles between 1992-1995 when he defeated Ivan Lendl, Jason Stoltenberg and Pete Sampras in the title matches. The American was halted in the semis in 1998 and 1999 and he almost won the title in that final appearance 13 years ago when Nadal toppled him 6-3 4-6 6-2. Novak Djokovic is the most successful player here after Lendl in terms of titles, winning four and notching 37 wins to move into the fourth place on our list, leaving Roger Federer on 35. The Serb has won 37 out of 44 matches in Canada, including titles in 2007, 2011, 2012 and 2016. Djokovic won the title in Montreal on his debut, prevailing over Roger Federer in the final set tie break and he repeated that four years later when he beat Mardy Fish in the title match. He was the player to beat a year later as well and his last tile so far came in 2016, in what has been his last Masters 1000 crown so far. Djokovic was forced to skip Montreal last year due to injury and he was beaten in the third round this week to Stefanos Tsitsipas, failing to reach Agassi's numbers in Canada but having a chance to do so next year. Choosing Cincinnati before Canada, Roger Federer has played Canada Masters only twice in the past seven years and he is on 35 wins in Montreal and Toronto, four ahead of Rafael Nadal who has reached the semi-final in 2018. Interestingly, Federer had won two titles by 2006 but none after that, standing as the runner-up no less than four times, including the last year's edition when Alexander Zverev ousted him in straight sets. The list of players with the most wins at Canada Masters: ↓ SHOW RANK ↓ 57 - Ivan Lendl 44 - John McEnroe 38 - Andre Agassi 37 - Novak Djokovic 35 - Roger Federer 32 - Rafael Nadal 26 - Andy Murray 25 - Andy Roddick ALSO READ: Alexander Zverev vs Auger-Aliassime - Who achieved more before turning 18?<doc-sep>Kevin Anderson reached his second Masters 1000 semi-final ever beating Grigor Dimitrov 6-2, 6-2 at the Rogers Cup on Friday. In his press conference, the South African spoke about the younger players willing to break through more and more on the ATP Tour. 'Definitely, in the last few years I think you have seen a whole emergence of younger players, and I think that's really exciting,' Anderson said. 'This sport definitely needs it. The whole NextGen initiative has been really, really amazing. Just watching the two guy right now, (Alexander) Zverev and (Stefanos) Tsitsipas, two of the sports brightest stars. There's a whole bunch of them. It's a really interesting contrast between guys playing well into their 30s and sort of the new group of guys. Not as young as maybe the (Roger) Federer's and (Rafael) Nadal's were when they had their amazing success winning Grand Slams, but I think it's a little bit different in terms of who is still playing. But there's definitely a lot of very tough younger players coming through.' Commenting on his win over Dimitrov, Anderson added: 'It was definitely a great match. I felt I played really well right from the beginning. I think I played some really good tennis in the last couple matches, just not from the start. It's sort of come sort of midway through the matches. So I knew it was important to try and start off that way, you know, as quickly as possible. And right from the first point till the last, I felt I was in a really good frame of mind, playing the kind of tennis that I knew I wanted to be playing and needed to be playing. I thought I executed really well. And, of course, getting off the court, you know, pretty comfortably definitely is a really good feeling.' ALSO READ: Roger Federer: We will never quite know who is the GOAT<doc-sep>
Rafael Nadal says Rogers Cup title 'means a lot' to him Nadal won his 33rd ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title on Sunday when he beat Stefanos Tsitsipas at the Rogers Cup. It was the 80th title of his career and the 50th at either Masters 1000 level, at the Grand Slams or ATP Finals. Nadal is yet to win at the end of season ATP Finals despite eight appearances. Federer tops the list with 20 Grand Slams, six ATP Finals wins and 27 Masters 1000 titles. Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic is third with 13 Grand Slams, five ATP Finals wins and 30 Masters 1000 titles. Federer and Djokovic can add to their list if they are successful at this week’s Cincinnati Masters. Nadal withdrew from the event hours after winning the Rogers Cup citing the need for rest. He wrote on Twitter: “I am very sorry to announce that I won't be playing in Cincinnati this year. Rafael Nadal won the 80th title of his career with the Rogers Cup "No other reason than personally taking care of my body and trying to keep as healthy as I feel now. "I am very thankful to my friend Andre Silva, tournament director of the Cincinnati tournament, who after speaking to him on the phone understood what I said and understands the situation. "I am sure the tournament will be a success and I wish him and his team all the best. I am also sad for those amazing fans in Cincy and around who always gave me great support. "I am sure I'll see them next year and I am sorry I won't be with them this year. Thanks for all the support as always." Rafael Nadal celebrates his Rogers Cup win