Andy Murray beaten in Cincinnati; Rafael Nadal pips Roger Federer

Britain's Andy Murray was beaten in straight sets by Tomas Berdych in the quarter-finals of the Cincinnati Open.

The Czech world number six turned in a powerful display to see off the Wimbledon champion 6-3 6-4.

Berdych will meet Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals after the Spaniard's 5-7 6-4 6-3 win over Roger Federer, who now drops to seventh in the world rankings.

World number one Novak Djokovic was beaten by John Isner, who faces Juan Martin Del Potro in the last four.

Murray, playing in his last match before he begins the defence of his US Open title later this month, struggled for consistency and admitted: "I made too many errors."

Despite sending down 10 aces compared to Berdych's two, Murray could not dictate the match and failed to convert any of his four break point opportunities.

Berdych broke Murray in the eighth game, and served to love to take the first set.

He then held off three break points in his next service game and stayed ahead of Murray to seal victory.

It was 27-year-old Berdych's second consecutive victory over Murray in 2013, having beaten the Scot in straight sets on clay at the quarter-finals of the Madrid Open in May.

Murray added: "The court was lively today. It was bouncing pretty high and it was quite tough to control the ball.

"I need to make sure I'm not making too many mistakes going into the US Open."

Nadal improved his career record against Federer to 21-10 and has won all three of their matches this year.

A close match came down to a few key points, and the Spaniard won most of them.

"My movement got better, with more intensity," said Nadal, who is undefeated on hard courts in 2013. "I put in more balls on the return, and controlled the baseline, something that didn't happen the first set and a half.

"The match was very close. I played some good points in important moments."

Federer admitted: "I could have played better late in the second and early in the third."

Serbian Djokovic was beaten 7-6 3-6 7-5 by American Isner, who goes on to play Del Potro.

The Argentine was too good for Russia's Dmitry Tursunov, eventually winning 6-4 3-6 6-1.