Federer eases past Stepanek to reach Montreal final

Montreal, Aug 11: World number one Roger Federer today eased into the final of the Montreal Masters with a 7-6 6-2 victory over unseeded Czech Radek Stepanek.

Stepanek pushed the top seed hard in the opening set but once Federer had won the tiebreak 8-6, he cruised through to a meeting with world number two Rafael Nadal of Spain or third seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia.

The Czech, who had won 12 of his past 14 matches, had Federer 0-40 in the seventh game but the Swiss fought back.

Stepanek then saved three set points in the tiebreak before Federer rifled a forehand return for a winner to take the set and then broke twice in the second set.

Reuters>