Roger Federer battled through to the Toronto Masters semi-finals with a 7-6 6-7 6-3 win over Xavier Malisse.
Playing his first event since claiming his fourth consecutive Wimbledon title, the world number one has yet to slip into a comfortable rhythm and for the second consecutive night was taken to three sets.
Although Federer needed two hours and 30 minutes to put away Malisse, however, the Belgian seldom looked capable of halting the Swiss player's 51-match winning streak on north American hard courts.
Federer, who celebrated his 25th birthday on Tuesday, has not lost a hardcourt match in north America since falling to Dominik Hrbaty in the first round of Cincinnati Masters in August 2004.
"First set when he was breakpoint up at 5-5, I thought this could be a tough match," Federer told reporters. "But I ended up winning the tiebreaker and after that it was never really in doubt too much.
"It just felt like it was tough out there tonight. For some reason I didn't feel that comfortable."
Chile's Fernando Gonzalez overcame Argentine Jose Acasuso 6-1 7-5 in an all-South American quarter-final later on Friday and the 15th seed will be the next in line to try and stop Federer reaching his 17th consecutive final.
The other semi-final brings together two of the game's emerging talents, Briton Andy Murray and Frenchman Richard Gasquet.
With an early break to go up 4-1, Federer looked poised for a comfortable win but Malisse dug in and broke back, sending the set into a tiebreak that the Wimbledon champion won 7-4.