Serbian tennis world No 1 Novak Djokovic unleashes a backhand during his quarterfinal victory over Gael Monfils of France at the Western & Southern Open in Ohio yesterday.

Novak Djokovic survived a scare before easing through to the semis. World No. 1 Djokovic outlasted Frenchman Gael Monfils to win 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 in a two and a half hour evening match."It was a very physical match, but I hung in there and it was a good win," Djokovic said. "It was an intense match, a lot of tension."

Djokovic improved his season record to a superb 56-1, clinching the match after Monfils hammered a forehand into the net.But second seeded Spaniard Nadal and Swiss maestro Federer suffered surprising exits on the Cincinnati hardcourts in the final event before the start of the US Open in 10 days.World number two Nadal was defeated by American seventh seed Mardy Fish 6-3, 6-4.And Federer then crashed out to eighth-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych 6-2, 7-6 (7/3).

Djokovic advances to Rogers Cup semifinals

The world's No. 1-ranked player from Serbia, Novak Djokovic needed just 1 hour, 13 minutes to beat fifth-seeded Gael Monfils of France 6-2, 6-1 on Friday night to advance to the semifinals of the Master Series tournament.The 2007 Rogers Cup champion will face another Frenchman, 13th seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who ousted No. 8 seed Nicolas Almagro of Spain 6-4, 6-4.

In recent days, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray suffered upsets, but Djokovic looks to be getting stronger each day as he used his overpowering forehand to improve his 2011 match record to 51-1 before a full house at Uniprix Stadium."I have played the best match of the tournament, no doubt," said the 24-year-old Djokovic, who is now 15-1 against top-10 players this year. "Everything was going well. I'm happy to see my game is progressing each day."Djokovic is now 7-0 in his career against Monfils, but it's a different story with Tsonga, who holds a 5-3 edge in their head-to-head meetings.