TENNIS WORLD

World No. 2 Rafael Nadal stayed on course to reclaim the Rogers Cup title, defeating Russian Igor Andreev 6-2, 7-6(1) on Thursday in Toronto to secure his place in the quarterfinals.
The Spaniard won 81 percent of his service points during the one hour, 50 minute match and broke Andreev twice in nine chances to extend his winning streak to 26 matches. Nadal's last loss came to compatriot Juan Carlos Ferrero in his second round opening match at Rome in early May.
Nadal is chasing his 12th career ATP Masters Series title this week, and his second in Canada. He won his first career hard court title at this event in 2005 - held in Montreal - defeating Andre Agassi in three sets.
Should the Spaniard win the title this week, he would have a chance next week in Cincinnati to overtake Federer at No. 1 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings. Federer suffered a second round exit to Gilles Simon on Wednesday.
Andreev was coming off runner-up efforts the last two weeks at Gstaad (l. to Hanescu) and Umag (l. to Verdasco), and was looking to reach his third ATP Masters Series quarterfinal of the season.
Tenth seed and 2006 finalist Richard Gasquet set up a quarterfinal date with Nadal after posting his first win in four career meetings against World No. 5 David Ferrer. He broke the Spaniard's serve twice in each set to earn the 6-3, 6-3 victory in one hour and 22 minutes.
Gasquet, who has a 0-4 lifetime record against Nadal, will be playing in his third quarterfinal this season. After a 10-10 start to the year, he reached his first quarterfinal in June at Queen's Club (l. to Nalbandian) and followed with a runner-up effort earlier this month at Stuttgart (l. to del Potro).
American James Blake advanced to the quarterfinals at the Rogers Cup for the first time in five event appearances by avenging last week's loss to Russian Dmitry Tursunov. The World No. 8 converted on five of his eight break point chances in the final two sets to secure the 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory in one hour and 48 minutes. Last week in the Indianapolis semifinals, he had held a set lead against Tursunov before falling in a 6-4 third set.
Blake, 28, is through to his fourth ATP Masters Series quarterfinal of the season, having reached this stage at Indian Wells and Miami (l. to Nadal both times) and on clay at Rome (l. to Wawrinka). He has enjoyed succes on North American hard courts this year, reaching the quarterfinals or better in each of his tournament appearances including a runner-up finish at Delray Beach (l. to Nishikori).
The seventh seed next faces German Nicolas Kiefer, who upset No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. Blake has won all three of their previous meetings in straight sets, most recently in 2007 en route to a runner-up finish at the ATP Masters Series event in Cincinnati.
The 30-year-old Kiefer, himself a former World No. 4, improves to a 34-69 lifetime and 3-4 season record against Top 10 players. This year, he posted wins against No. 10 Stanislas Wawrinka and No. 4 Davydenko at Masters Series Hamburg.
Kiefer has reached the Canada semifinals twice in his previous eight appearances. He defeated No. 2 Patrick Rafter in the 1999 quarterfinals before losing to Thomas Johansson, and reached the final four again in 2004 with wins over Marat Safin, David Ferrer and No. 4 Carlos Moya (l. to Roddick).