Gael Monfils earned a thrilling three-set victory in the Rogers Cup quarter-final on Saturday afternoon, beating Roberto Bautista Agut 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(2). But the Frenchman couldn’t take to the court for the semi-finals against top seed Rafael Nadal, retiring with a sprained ankle.

The turn of events was disappointing for the No. 16 seed, who first suffered the injury in the second set of her match against Bautista Agut, slipping to her left.

The first thing Monfils coach Liam Smith asked him after the last eight win was, “How bad is your ankle?”

“I didn’t roll it all the way, but I did roll it a bit, enough for me to be careful. He told me I had no chance. I was like, ‘Yeah, but you never know,’ Monfils said. “He knows I like these games, the night sessions, Rafa. It’s because I play tennis for that, for the big moments, the big shows. He said, ‘But not this one’. He’s right because we fought all year. [I was] unhappy in March, a little more in July. It was perhaps the safest decision not to play tonight.

It appeared he was slowing down against the Spaniard, potentially embarrassed by this moment. But Monfils dumped the match against Bautista Agut, who needed a win to break into the Top 10 of the ATP rankings for the first time.

It was the first time Monfils had qualified for the semi-finals of an ATP Masters 1000 event since 2016, when he made the last four in Toronto, succumbing to Novak Djokovic. The 32-year-old was five points behind Bautista Agut, but ended his victory with a huge forehand winner from a short ball, raising his arms in celebration with a smile on his face.

“I chose to play the service games where I was hitting hard, then in the tie-break I gave it my all,” Monfils said. “I tried to be aggressive. The backhand all the way helped me a lot. I was able to remove it.

As the match progressed the rally patterns became more and more similar, with Bautista Agut attacking with his forehand from the backhand side of the pitch as Monfils hung on defensively and tried to make things uncomfortable for the player. ‘Spanish.

But when it mattered most, Monfils upped his aggressiveness considerably, moving away from the baseline to claim his first two comeback points in the deciding tie-break. He sprinted to a 5/0 lead, which he didn’t give up. Monfils saved eight of the 10 break balls he faced in the game.

The world No. 20 has advanced to at least the semi-finals of three of his first four tournaments this year, highlighted by a triumph at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam. It was Monfils’ first trip to the final four since that stretch.