Wimbledon champion Andy Murray failed to advance as he slumped to a shock 6-4, 6-3 loss to Latvia´s Ernests Gulbis.[break]
Top seed and three-time Canadian champion Djokovic dropped the opening set before swinging back into form to earn a 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over 66th-ranked Denis Istomin. Nadal subdued Poland´s Jerzy Janowicz 7-6 (8/6), 6-4.
It was a huge day for host Canada, with two players into the quarter-finals for the first time since 1989.
Wild card Vasek Pospisil shocked fifth seed Tomas Berdych 7-5, 2-6, 7-6 (7/5) while 11th seed Milos Raonic blasted former US Open champ Juan Martin del Potro 7-5, 6-4.
Raonic, treated for a pinched nerve in his neck for 12 minutes in the first set, also got a break when the chair ruled a ball dead on a point in the eighth game of the second set despite his foot brushing the net.
The call led to a break of del Potro for 4-4 a few games from the end and left the Argentine angry.
Raonic won 79 percent of his first-serve points and fired a dozen aces to just one for del Potro.
Djokovic was caught by surprise in his match with Istomin as the Uzbek broke twice to win the opening set. It was uphill for the remainder of the two-hour, seven-minute match before Djokovic salted away the win with a ninth ace.
Murray, who had won all five previous meetings with the colourful Gulbis, saw his 13-match winning streak snapped.
The world number two now heads to Cincinnati for a final chance to tune his hardcourt form ahead of his US Open title defence starting in New York on August 26.
"I´m obviously disappointed not to win," said Murray. "I hit the ball better today than I did yesterday, I just got broken at the end of both sets.
"There´s obviously some things for me to work on, but I think that will come with playing matches."
Gulbis went through in less than 90 minutes with three breaks of Murray, twice a champion in Canada.
Gulbis, ranked 38 in the world, reached his third career quarter-final at the Masters 1000 level but first since Madrid in 2010 where he lost to Roger Federer.
Fourth seed Nadal, playing his first event in seven weeks since losing in the first round at Wimbledon to Belgian Steve Darcis, needed one and three-quarter hours to see off Polish 15th seed Janowicz, a Wimbledon semi-finalist.
"I had a very good victory today against a very difficult opponent, I´m very happy," said Nadal, winner of seven titles this season.
"I did a few things well and there are a few things I need to improve a little bit more.
"In general I´m pleased with the way I played, it´s a great victory for me, an important one."
The victory was a major contrast to Nadal´s opening match, where he lost just two games against Canada´s Jesse Levine.
Nadal, the French Open champion and with seven titles in 2013, has now won 45 matches since his return in February from a seven-month injury lay-off.
The Spaniard will square off on Friday against Australian qualifier Marinko Matosevic, who needed two and a half hours to defeat Frenchman Benoit Paire, 7-6 (9/7), 6-7 (10/12), 6-3.
Serena Williams rolls into quarters in Toronto
TORONTO: World No. 1 Serena Williams easily booked her spot in the quarter-finals of the WTA Rogers Cup, routing 13th-seeded Kirsten Flipkens in straight sets on Thursday.
Two-time champ Williams avenged a first-round loss by her sister, Venus, to Flipkens, beating the Belgian 6-0, 6-3 in a third round match in the $2.4 million tournament at the Rexall Centre stadium.
"After I won the first set I definitely thought about Venus, and I thought about what a good comeback Kirsten had, so I thought, ´I´m not going to get over-confident,´" Williams said. "I was just trying to stay really focused as well as really intense at that moment."
Flipkens, a surprise semi-finalist at Wimbledon, ousted Venus Williams 0-6, 6-4, 6-2 in the first round.
But she couldn´t repeat the upset against Serena, the reigning US Open and French Open champ. Serena won this tournament in 2001 and 2011 and was the runner-up in 2000.
Williams blasted 10 aces, had one double fault and lost just one point (14 of 15) on her second serve in the 56-minute match.
Williams moves on to the quarter-finals where she next faces Slovak Magdalena Rybarikova.
Williams meanwhile said she is pleased to have Venus back on tour after her older sister missed substantial time with injuries.
"I´m happy she´s around," Serena said. "She´s trying to get in the swing of things and play some matches and get more match tough, but it´s always good to have her around, and it´s good for her to be back."
Williams wasn´t the only top player to win in straight sets to get into the quarter-finals Thursday as third seed Agnieszka Radwanska and Czech left-hander Petra Kvitova also advanced.
Chinese star Li Na had a tougher time against former world number one Ana Ivanovic, rallying to beat the stubborn Serb 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7/5).
"Sometimes you can´t play your best, but you just hang in there until the end," said Li, who lost to Kvitova in last year´s Rogers Cup final.
French seventh-seed Marion Bartoli was upset by Rybarikova 7-6 (7/5), 1-0. Bartoli retired with abdominal pain after losing the first game of the second set.
Bartoli said after the match that her abdominal trouble could be a carry over from her gruelling Wimbledon triumph.
Last week Rybarikova captured her second consecutive Washington, D.C. crown.
The 31-year-old Williams will be facing the younger Rybarikova, 24, for the first time in their careers.
Kvitova earned a spot in the round of eight by rolling over Aussie Samantha Stosur 6-3, 6-3.
Meanwhile, Radwanska dispatched 14th-seeded American Sloane Stephens 6-1, 7-6 (7/2) and fifth-seeded Italian Sara Errani outlasted France´s Alize Cornet 7-5, 7-6 (7/3).
Radwanska, the 2012 Wimbledon runner-up, and Errani will face each other in the quarters with Radwanska leading 6-2 in their head-to-head career series. Errani won their last encounter earlier this year.
"We always play long matches," Radwanska said. "We play a little bit similar. That´s why there´s a lot of running and a lot of long rallies with us."
Romanian Sorana Cirstea surprised 15th-seeded Serb Jelena Jankovic 6-3, 6-4 and Slovak Dominika Cibulkova stunned Roberta Vinci of Italy 6-3, 7-6 (7/4).
Related story
Govt to turn Ministers’ Quarters at Pulchowk into quarters for...
_20230226123652.jpg)
