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Croatian Ivan Dodig inflicted a 1-6, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-5) upset on second seed Rafael Nadal on Wednesday to eliminate the Spaniard in the second round of the Montreal Masters.

Dodig, ranked 41st after standing 88th at the start of 2011, worked three hours and eight minutes for his comeback, the ninth loss this season for Nadal.

The winner fired 19 aces and broke Nadal as the Spaniard tried to serve out the match.

In the final-set tiebreaker, Dodig did not panic. He was trailing 2-0 but powered on to take the upset.

“This is the biggest win of my career, of my life,” said the winner, “I was fighting hard for every point. In the end I managed. I’m really happy.” Novak Djokovic led fellow elite player Roger Federer into the third round as both advanced in straight sets.

Djokovic, playing on the ATP for the first time in the five weeks since he won Wimbledon and assumed the world number one ranking, recovered from 1-4 down in the opening set to overhaul former top-3 Russian Nikolay Davydenko 7-5, 6-1.

The Serb winner has been in North America for the last week or so, appearing on two late-night chat shows and charming a nationwide audience with his easy personality and status as current top player.

Djokovic said he was glad to get back to work on court. “I haven’t played any match in four weeks,” said the Serb as he played for the firs time since taking over the top ranking. “Of course, it feels great.

“It’s a different feeling, definitely, not playing four weeks any official match, and changing the surface. I’ve played last two tournaments on clay courts, and then grass courts.

“Coming on hard courts with no matches, coming into this tournament was a challenge.” Federer set the stage to avenge a recent Wimbledon defeat as he crushed Canadian wild card Vasek Pospisil 7-5,6-3.

The Swiss third seed will square off Thursday against French number 13 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who beat Australian Bernard Tomic 6-3, 7-6 (7-1).

Tsonga rallied from two sets down to eliminate the six-time champion in a Wimbledon quarter-final on June 29.

“Even if I beat him in Wimbledon, that doesn’t mean I will be able to beat him all the time,” said Tsonga. “He’s still the best player of all time. I have my chances, but it’s going to be difficult, of course.” Federer claimed his first victory as a 30-year-old after celebrating the milestone birthday Monday.

His defeat of 155{+t}{+h}-ranked Pospisil was only his third meeting with a Canadian in 967 career matches, and he ran his record in that category to 3-0. Federer won a hard-fought opening set in 49 minutes and ran away with the second with four aces and two breaks of serve.

Federer, who owns Canadian titles from 2004 and 2006, is playing on the ATP for the first time since losing to Tsonga.

“The match with Jo depends on the conditions, if we might play at night or during the day,” he said. “At Wimbledon it was really a matter of our serves and forehands. He served very well, and I was serving well, too. It was a matter of a couple of points.” Federer was joined in the third round by compatriot and Beijing Olympic doubles partner Stanislas Wawrinka, who needed little more than an hour to dispatch US player Michael Russell 6-3, 6-2.

French fifth seed Gael Monfils advanced against American Alex Bogomolov 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) while seventh-seeded Tomas Berdych staged a comeback to defeat Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. DPA