Andy Murray defeats Rafael Nadal in Toronto semifinal

Defending champion Andy Murray defeated top-ranked Rafael Nadal, 6-3, 6-4, for the first time in two years in the Rogers Cup semifinals on Saturday at Toronto.

Murray will play the winner of the Roger Federer-Novak Djokovic semifinal match in Sunday’s final.

Murray used his strong baseline game to knock off the top-seeded Spaniard. He kept the pressure on Nadal and kept the unforced errors to a minimum.

“You never expect to beat the best players in the world,” Murray said. “But I think if I play my best tennis like I did today, I have a very good chance against all of them.”

Murray improved to 4-8 against Nadal, with all four victories coming on hard courts.

Kim Clijsters reached another title match with only 12 minutes of tennis and an empathetic hug.

Ana Ivanovic hurt her left foot during the opening set of their semifinal at the Cincinnati Open at Mason Ohio, forcing her to withdraw in tears with the rest of her season in doubt.

“It sounds very similar to what I had with my left foot,” said Clijsters, who tore a muscle in her foot last April and missed nearly two months, including the French Open. “I hope it’s not that bad.”

The fourth-seeded Belgian will be well-rested when she plays her third title match of the year Sunday. Ivanovic’s injury allowed the 27-year-old Clijsters to get a break from the oppressive afternoon heat — an on-court thermometer reached 120 degrees during the week.

Russians Maria Sharapova and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova were set to play in the other semifinal Saturday night.

Andy Roddick says his recent struggles on the court are the result of a mild case of mononucleosis.

Roddick said on Saturday that one of several blood tests came back positive for mononucleosis. Doctors told him he’s probably had it for the last couple of months and should be nearly over it.

Seeded fifth at Wimbledon, Roddick lost to 82nd-ranked Yen-hsu Lu of Taiwan in the fourth round.

MOTOR RACING

Keslowski wins Nationwide race

Brad Keselowski managed to make it through pit stops despite problems with his clutch, then grabbed the lead on a restart with eight laps to go and pulled away to win the NASCAR Nationwide race at Michigan International Speedway.

Carl Edwards finished second, barely edging out a charging Kyle Busch.

Edwards and Keselowski raced side-to-side for a large portion of the race without incident. Both drivers are on probation for a high-profile confrontation at Gateway International Raceway last month.

“It’s like both of us are probably thinking the same thing, don’t be the guy that messes this up,” Edwards said. “But he raced me very cleanly, I thought we raced very well together, and that’s the kind of racing that I’m sure both of us want to be doing.”

Meanwhile, it was another rough day for Danica Patrick, who went down a lap to the leaders early on and struggled to a 27th-place finish. In six Nationwide series starts this season, Patrick’s best finish is 24th at Chicagoland last month.

Doug Kalitta took the top qualifying spot in top fuel at the NHRA Nationals at Brainerd, Minn. His pass of 3.842 seconds at 305.49 mph moved him past overnight leader Brandon Bernstein.

Ashley Force Hood held on to the top funny car spot with a run of 4.102 seconds at 302.55 mph.

ETC.

Americans reach U.S. Women’s Amateur final

American teenagers Danielle Kang of Pepperdine and Jessica Korda ousted their Canadian opponents in the U.S. Women’s Amateur to advance to the final at Charlotte (N.C.) Country Club. Kang, 17, edged Jennifer Kirby, 1 up, on the par-72, 6,559-yard course on another humid day. Korda, also 17, defeated Stephanie Sherlock, 4 and 3, to advance.

Allyson Felix and Jeremy Wariner won 400-meter races in the Diamond League meet at London. Felix held off new European champion Tatyana Firova to win in 50.79 seconds. Wariner beat world leader Jermaine Gonzales of Jamaica. Wariner lagged for the first 200 but powered past Gonzales on the final curve and held off a late challenge to finish in 44.67.

Danny Granger scored 22 points as the United States sprinted past China, 98-51, in a practice game at New York before the world championships. Eric Gordon strengthened his case for a spot on the world championship team with 15 points. Kevin Durant added 14 points and Derrick Rose had 12.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter says soccer’s governing body will consider eliminating ties in all World Cup games. Blatter said Saturday on Germany’s Focus weekly that the dramatic change would make the tournament more interesting. He says the change could involve going to a shootout after 90 minutes of regulation or adding sudden-death overtime.

Didier Drogba scored a hat trick to lead defending champion Chelsea to a 6-0 win over West Bromwich Albion at London on the opening day of the English Premier League season.

Michigan football Coach Rich Rodriguez says he’s glad facing the NCAA committee on infractions is over. Rodriguez made a very brief comment after a 7 1/2 -hour hearing in Seattle on violations within the Michigan program.

Russell Baze, North America’s winningest jockey, has ridden the 11,000th winner of his career. The 52-year-old Baze won the fourth race at the Sonoma County Fair aboard Separate Forest to reach the milestone.