Montreal - AFP
Mardy Fish ended Swiss hopes at the ATP Montreal Masters on Friday as the American ran away with the final set in a 6-3, 6-7 (8/10), 6-0 quarter-final defeat of Stanislas Wawrinka. The 14th seed followed countryman Roger Federer out of the event a day after the third seed lost to France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Wawrinka, who claimed Beijing Olympic doubles gold with his celebrated compatriot, rallied to win the second set in a tight tiebreaker but collapsed in the final set to hand over victory to sixth seed Fish in two hours, 21 minutes. The top American on the ATP tour will await a winner from seventh-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych and Serb Janko Tipsarevic. Fish won with six aces and a massive ten breaks of the Wawrinka serve. The victory continues a career success story for the 29-year-old Fish, who had never won a match at the event before this week. In fact, the world number eight American has been a stranger in Canada, playing here only in 2003 and 2008. Wawrinka had won three matches in a row this week for the first time since Roland Garros and was playing his second straight quarter-final after Gstaad at home on clay. Fish claimed their only previous meeting almost four years ago in New Haven. Fish was playing in his eighth season quarter-final and improved his 2011 record to 32-15 as he won ten of 11 matches on North American summer hardcourts He already owns a hard court title from Atlanta last month before playing the Los Angeles final where he was beaten by Ernests Gulbis while favouring a heel injury.