Gasquet Pulls Double Duty To Reach Toronto Semis

© Getty ImagesRichard Gasquet reached the Toronto final in 2006.

Richard Gasquet is one win away from his second Rogers Cup final after pulling double duty in Toronto Friday. Required to play two matches to make up for rain delays, Gasquet first upset fourth seed Tomas Berdych 6-4, 6-2 before rallying from a set down for a 5-7, 6-1, 6-2 win over American Mardy Fish, who himself won a thee setter earlier in the day against Juan Monaco.

“For sure it's tough, but I think he played one more hour than me in the morning with Monaco so it made a little bit of a difference, I think,” said Gasquet. “I tried to fight a lot and then I defended well and I played a good match.  But for sure to play two matches in a day, it's very difficult."

Watch Live Online | TV Schedule | Buy Tickets

Gasquet, who reached the 2006 final, next meets 6' 9" American John Isner, who won the battle of the big servers against Canadian Milos Raonic. Isner won 43 of 47 points on his first serve and withstood 13 aces from the home favourite to win 7-6, 6-4.

World No. 11 Isner has turned around his season after a slump in the middle of the year. In his past three events he reached the quarter-finals at the Olympics, the semi-finals in Atlanta and successfully defended his title in Newport.

Although Isner was playing his second match for the day (Raonic had received a walkover from Andy Murray to reach the quarter-finals), he said that he did not feel at a disadvantage.

"I felt all right out there, and I thought I would feel fine," Isner said. "The way I looked at it is I was at a bit of an advantage, in my opinion, because he hadn't played in a few days.

"I played a match just earlier, a match I could have lost, 6-4 in the third set. Any time you win a match like that it sort of gives you confidence, so I went out there telling myself I had nothing to lose.

"But I was feeling pretty good. So although he may have been a little bit fresher, I guess I was a little bit more... in tune with the tournament."