Federer fails to make Cincinnati semis

Third-seed Roger Federer has been knocked out of the quarterfinals of the Western & Southern open in Cincinnati.

The Swiss struggled with his groundstrokes during a 6-2, 7-6 (3) loss to the Czech Republic’s Tomas Berdych, who has won three of their past four matches.

Federer failed to break Berdych’s serve, making 29 unforced errors and hitting three forehands wide during the tiebreaker.

“I definitely didn’t feel I was getting a great read on his first serve today,” Federer said later. “He served well and played a good match. Unfortunately, I didn’t play a very good tiebreaker today.”

Other top players also struggled on Friday at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event. World number one Novak Djokovic needed three sets to beat France’s Gael Monfils, while Rafael Nadal lost to American Mardy Fish in straight sets.