Novak Djokovic defeated Tomas Berdych 7-6 (6), 6-4, extending his dominance over Berdych.
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The top seed and three-time Canadian titleholder won in a light-hearted match-up with one of the characters of the ATP Tour as the 37-year-old Stepanek kept the crowd entertained with extravagant shot-making.
Canadian Milos Raonic took on Gael Monfils in the final quarter-final of the day. No. 9 John Isner was also bounced, losing to fellow American Ryan Harrison in three sets. “I have to focus on my service game to stay with him and to maybe give him a little bit of pressure and waiting for him maybe a little bit getting nervous from the tensions and give me a chance”. I was very fortunate to win that first set.
The 10th-seeded Frenchman, who arrived in Toronto fresh off earning his first tournament win in two-and-a-half years, will play Raonic in the quarters, after the local favourite dusted off American qualifier Jared Donaldson 6-2 6-3.
“I lost 12 points on my serve, and eight of those were in two games that I played quite poorly”. Monfils won the Citi Open on Sunday in Washington.
Mental errors dogged Berdych throughout the match, though, costing him several points on forehands into the net.
“He’s playing great tennis at the moment”, said Djokovic, 11-0 against Monfils.
The Canuck had his fourth break-point opportunity in the eighth game, but could not convert, while earlier in that game the right-handed Monfils was unable to track down a ball with his right hand, so he returned it with his left.
After each player snuck out tiebreaker wins in the first and second sets, the match headed into a deciding third set.
Novak Djokovic struggled early in his 27th meeting with 5th-seeded Tomas Berdych at the Rogers Cup on Friday night in Toronto, but when it came to the big points, the world No. 1 seemed to draw upon past experience to gain the upper hand in his 7-6 (6), 6-4 victory over the Czech. After a quick and unsuccessful excursion to the grass courts, Stan Wawrinka is back to the more familiar ground, advancing to his second Masters 1000 quarter-final of the season. Any energy, I take it.
“I love to play when it’s crowded, and if the crowd is for the other one, it’s fine”, Monfils said.
Ultimately, unforced errors were Muller’s undoing, with both sets easily in reach of the unseeded player from Luxembourg.
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The Swiss second seed will next face Japanese third seed Kei Nishikori, who beat former top-10 player Grigor Dimitrov 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 with four breaks of the Bulgarian’s serve.
