Kei Nishikori swept aside Rafa Nadal in the quarter-finals of the Rogers Cup in Montreal with a swift 6-2 6-4 victory, while world number one Novak Djokovic saved two match points before beating Latvian Ernests Gulbis.

Japan's Nishikori, seeded fourth, took just 82 minutes to beat the Spaniard, a 14-times grand slam champion and a winner three times at the Rogers Cup. "I was close in Madrid, but today I was dominating everything," said Nishikori after getting his first win over Nadal in eight attempts.

"I definitely needed to change some of my tactics when playing against Rafa. I had to play 100 percent to beat him." Montreal Masters:

Nishikori will next meet Andy Murray in the semi-finals after the Briton defeated defending champ Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France 6-4 6-4. Nishikori won his third title of the season in Washington last week and is hitting his stride ahead of the U.S. Open.

The 25-year-old reached the final at Flushing Meadows last year only to lose in straight sets to Marin Cilic. "(Nadal) wasn't making many first serves tonight, so I knew I had to be more aggressive on the second serve," Nishikori said.

"Everything was working well, so I am very happy to win today."

Djokovic almost joined Nadal on the way out but rallied from a set down to beat Gulbis 5-7 7-6(7) 6-1, setting up a semi-final with Jeremy Chardy of France. The Serb, who is looking for a fourth Canadian crown, said he would have had no complaints had Gulbis beat him.

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