World No. 1 men's tennis player Roger Federer of Switzerland and Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic have advanced to the semifinals of the Rogers Cup hard-court tennis tournament in Montreal, Canada.
Federer, the top seed, scored a straight-sets win over former U.S. Open winner Lleyton Hewitt of Australia, 6-3, 6-4. Stepanek scored a 6-4, 7-5 win over Russian fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko.
Federer has a 2-1 record all-time against Stepanek. The last time they met in a tournament was last year in Rome with Federer winning, 6-1, 6-4.
Meanwhile, Serbia's Novak Djokovic defeated American Andy Roddick in straight sets (7-6, 6-4). Djokovic, the tournament's third seed, plays either three-time French Open winner Rafael Nadal of Spain or Frank Dancevic of Canada.
The event is part of the U.S. Open series, a string of hard-court tournaments that players are using to prepare for the last major tournament of the year. The U.S. Open starts August 27 in New York.