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Wawrinka puts away Sock at Rogers Cup

At the end of the day we can all miss easy shots. Instead, Wawrinka let it bounce then sent his backhand shot straight into the doubles alley. The capacity evening crowd did their best to lift powerful Canadian Raonic, but Monfils, whose attitude has often been questioned, did not buckle against the fourth seed. “It’s the same feeling, you know, either way”.

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“But I have to say I’m grateful for the kind of reception I got throughout this entire week so far, three matches on court”.

These two have played 12 times in the past and Djokovic has won 11 of those meetings.

“It’s fun. I love playing with Radek. Any energy, I take it. Even if it’s for me or not for me, I take it”.

Third-seeded Kei Nishikori defeated Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 on Friday in the quarterfinals of the Rogers Cup, setting up a match against world No. 5 Stan Wawrinka in the semis.

Japan’s third seed Kei Nishikori reached the quarters without the loss of a set as an injury from Wimbledon fades away. In their previous four matches, Wawrinka held a slim 3-1 lead in their head-to-head.

That last Rogers Cup final was in Montreal. This was the second of our tennis picks that required the full three sets but the Frenchman got the job done and advanced. The drastic improvements in his results has mainly been because of the strides he’s made from a mental standpoint, and secondly, because of his eagerness to finish points at the net.

“For me, it doesn’t change much to be No. 2 seed, 3 seed, or 4 seed”, said Wawrinka.

Nishikori capitalized on some errors (some rather bizarre) from Stan to force a tiebreak.

Prediction: Wawrinka in 3 sets. He was broken in his first service game – and it went downhill from there.

On Saturday, Djokovic relied on his superb return game to win the first set. “It’s not easy to play someone you know so well and respect a lot”, Djokovic said. He is also considered one of the greatest tennis players of all time.

For now, though, Nishikori must sit and wait until late Saturday night to find out who he’ll meet in the final.

Second seed Wawrinka will face Kevin Anderson in his third last-eight appearance at the tournament after overcoming a tough opening set against Sock.

“If I can try to make more balls into the court to play, I have a little bit better chance”, he said.

“It s just great to be into another Masters final, I m looking forward to my opportunity”, the victor said. And we played in Miami this year.

“I guess I was just able to focus on the next point”.

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Plus, I don’t think all is right for Novak and for whatever reason he hasn’t won in Canada since 2012.

Novak Djokovic celebrates with a court boy after reaching the last four of the French Open in Paris on Thursday