.Ben Crane, Camilo Villegas and Gary Woodl

MASON, Ohio -- The vintage rematch ended with Rafael Nadal pumping his arms after a final forehand. He was a little bit better than old nemesis Roger Federer once again. Nadal advanced to the semifinals of the Western & Southern Open with a 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 win over Federer on Friday night, a vintage rematch that reinforced their head-to-head standings for now. Nadal improved to 21-10 against his top rival, including wins all of their three matches this year. A close match came down to a few points, and Nadal got most of them. "Always the emotions out there when we play each other," Nadal said. Their first meeting in Cincinnati highlighted a day of upsets in the mens bracket. No. 1 Novak Djokovic and No. 2 Andy Murray lost in the quarterfinals. No. 1 Serena Williams moved on in the womens bracket. Nadal moves on, too, playing Tomas Berdych in the semifinals. Its been a summer of resurgence for the 27-year-old Spaniard. He missed the end of last season with a knee injury, but has gotten into one of the best stretches this season. He takes a career-best 51-3 mark into the semifinal, including a 14-1 against Top 10 opponents. Its been a rough summer for Federer, who was beaten by a player ranked 116th in the world at Wimbledon. And that was just the start. The 32-year-old Swiss star kept getting upset and struggled with a sore back. Federer hoped that his week in Cincinnati would help him repair his game. Hes won the tournament an unprecedented five times. As the week went along, his game got noticeably better, leaving him optimistic about the U.S. Open. "I can definitely take more things away from this week than I could for the last sort of three months," Federer said. "So Im happy about that. That sets it up nicely for me for New York, I think." Their match was as good as any in the tournament. Federer got the first break to go up 6-5 in the opening set and finished it off with a crosscourt backhand. Nadal got his first break of the match to win the second set. He broke Federer again in the second game of the third set to take control. They moved each other around, hit the lines and lobbed over each others heads, making one exquisite shot after another while bringing fans to their feet. Federer fought off four match points before Nadal put it away. "Could have won tonight, should have won tonight, who knows?" Federer said. "But at the end, I think Rafas confidence and the way hes playing at the moment got him through." While Federer and Nadal rekindled a famous rivalry, the top-ranked player had another disappointment on Cincinnatis fast, blue courts. Its the only place that Djokovic cant win. Top-ranked American John Isner ended his attempt to make ATP history on Friday, prevailing 7-6 (5), 3-6, 7-5. Djokovic has never won in Cincinnati, where hes lost in the finals four times, including last year to Federer. All he needs to do is hoist the winners trophy one time in Cincinnati to become the first player to win all nine ATP Masters events. Wait until next year. Again. "Its disappointing that I played this way," Djokovic said. "For me, its very disappointing." Isner reached the semifinals in Cincinnati for the first time, knocking off a No. 1 for only the second time in his career. His other No. 1 upset? He beat Djokovic at Indians Wells in the semifinals last year. "A fantastic win for me," Isner said. "Certainly one of my greatest memories as a tennis player." Hell play seventh-seeded Juan Martin del Potro, who advanced Friday by beating qualifier Dmitry Tursunov 6-4, 3-6, 6-1. Del Potro, who has a sore wrist and knee, is in the semifinals for the second straight year. Soon after Djokovic got knocked out, Murray was gone, too. He failed to convert a break point while losing 6-3, 6-4 to Berdych, who also beat him in the quarterfinals at Madrid. In the womens draw, Williams needed only 64 minutes to beat Simona Halep 6-0, 6-4. Shell play Li Na, who advanced to the semifinals automatically when No. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska withdrew to attend her grandfathers funeral. Like Djokovic, Williams has never won in Cincinnati, which has become one of her goals. She struggles with the conditions on court and wasnt happy with her overall level of play on Friday. "I have quite a few things on my tennis bucket list," Williams said. "This obviously is one of them. But I like to believe if it doesnt happen this year, I always have another chance." Fourteenth-seeded Jelena Jankovic beat 12th-seeded Roberta Vinci 6-0, 6-4 to reach the semifinals for the third time. She won the tournament in 2009 and lost the title match to Maria Sharapova in 2011. "I love playing here in Cincinnati because I have great results in the past," said Jankovic, who fought off eight of nine break points in the second set. "So that always helps. I mean, I was a finalist and a champion before, so you always love coming back to places where you can win." Shell play No. 2 Victoria Azarenka, who beat Caroline Wozniacki 6-3, 7-6 (5) in the final match Friday night. Azarenka had to withdraw at Toronto last week because of a sore lower back, but reached the semifinals in Cincinnati for the first time. Nolan Ryan Mets Jersey . In what the team had called a retirement, Ryan said Thursday that he is resigning as chief executive of the Rangers in a move effective at the end of this month. Darryl Strawberry Jersey . - Blake Griffin had 30 points and 12 rebounds, J. http://www.metsbaseballauthentic.com/mike-piazza-mets-jersey/ . Fernandez, coached in Toronto by former two-time Olympic silver medallist Brian Orser, scored 267.11 points and is the first champion to successfully defend since Russias Evgeny Plushenko in 2005 and 2006. Zack Wheeler Jersey . As he recorded his 23rd and 24th points of the evening, a segment of the sellout Air Canada Centre crowd expressed their appreciation for the Raptors point guard with a smattering of MVP chants. Tom Seaver Jersey . -- Washington Redskins tight end Fred Davis was charged Thursday with driving while intoxicated, a day after he was suspended for an NFL substance-abuse policy violation. PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico -- Chris Kirk shot an 8-under 63 on Thursday to take a one-stroke lead in the OHL Classic at Mayakoba.Kirk had four birdies on each nine in his bogey-free round on Mayakobas Greg Norman-designed El Camaleon course.I dont think anybodys comforts really that high, Kirk said. I definitely drove the ball well today. Just trying to stick to my sort of go to shot and hit draws out there for the most part. Its definitely intimidating off the tee a little bit, but thankfully I hit a lot of good ones today.The former University of Georgia player has two top-10 finishes in three starts in the new PGA Tour season, opening with a tie for eighth at Silverado and tying for second in Mississippi. He tied for 61st last week in Las Vegas, closing with rounds of 75 and 74.I just played pretty terrible over the weekend in Vegas, but I think I was just a little bit tired, Kirk said. So thankfully, I came and took Monday and Tuesday completely off and didnt touch a club and just tried to relax, and now I feel kind of re-energized and ready to play again. No, I definitely wasnt expecting to shoot 63 today, but happy I did.He won the last of his four PGA Tour titles in 2015.dddddddddddd.Ben Crane, Camilo Villegas and Gary Woodland were tied for second at 64.This is a very tight golf course, Crane said. After maybe 10 to 15 yards of rough on each side, its just jungle, right? When you get some crosswinds, youve got to hit solid tee shots and youve got to really control your ball. You really want to be able to flight your ball because you really dont want to be curving it down on that crosswind downwind, right, because its going to curve so much.Mexicos Abraham Ancer bogeyed the final hole for a 65.Its huge. Its awesome playing in Mexico in front of my people, said Ancer, a former University of Oklahoma player. I dont want to get ahead of myself and I obviously want to play well, but it would be awesome to finish up there at the end of the tournament.NCAA champion Aaron Wise also was 65 along with Webb Simpson, Scott Piercy, Kevin Streelman and Nicholas Lindheim.Jim Furyk had a double bogey in a 74 in his first round of the season.Defending champion Graeme McDowell opened with a 75. ' ' '