Where the conditions yesterday were made difficult due to high winds and rain, today, the sun and heat took its toll on the players.

Vasek Pospisil seemed to lose some momentum in the second set against Tomas Berdych, enabling the fifth seeded player to take the second set. Pospisil fought hard for every point and in the end managed to inch his way to a victory with a 3^rd set tie-breaker.

Milas Raonic suffered some discomfort during his game against Juan Martin Del Potro which required medical attention, causing a brief delay in the match, much to Del Potro’s dismay. The two players battled it out,

At the end of the day we find two Canadians in the final eight in the tournament for the first time since 1989.

The big upset of the day was the loss of Andy Murray to Ernest Gulbis in two sets. Playing his first tournament on a hard court since March, Murray who has been playing mostly on grass courts of late, found the surface difficult. Coming off his win at Wimbledon, his goal was to get some training in with a plan to peak for the US Open, where he will be defending his title. While he felt that he played better than the previous day, he was not able to capitalize on his chances and win the critical point that he needed at the end of both sets.

Novac Djokovic defeated Denis Istomin in three sets with the first one going to Istomin. Djokovic came back to win (2-6) (6-4) (6-4) taking 96 points over Istomin’s 94. It was a difficult win, taking over 2 hours, with Istomin playing all angles, serving with confidence, and returning several shots is spectacular form.

Marc DesRosiers