Raonic, who had a bye in the first round of the Rogers Cup, is 2-0 against the 32-year-old Lu, with his last victory coming in 2014 in Monte Carlo.
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“It was a really wonderful moment”, Djokovic said.
Only Czech Ivan Lendl has more Rogers Cup titles with six, all won in the 1980s. He won back-to-back titles in 2011 and 2012, as well as in 2007.
Jul 30, 2016; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Novak Djokovic celebrates after winning the singles semi final match at the Rogers Cup tennis tournament at Aviva Centre.
If Djokovic had lacked consistency earlier in the tournament, he believes he turned the corner against Monfils.
“I’m glad I had that weapon today”, Djokovic said. “He was the better player last couple of games”.
After the match, Djokovic hugged all members of his entourage and tried to orchestrate a mass group hug in the crowd. Djokovic was struggling with the consistency of his second serve in the earlier rounds and it brought back memories of Djokovic’s frailties on serve in his younger years. It can happen, you know.
“For sure I’m not fresh”, he said. “But you know, you learn even when you are exhausted like this”. That’s not guarantee you that you can win the match.
Ever since suffering a disappointing defeat in the hands of American Sam Querrey in Church Road, there were questions about Djokovic’s chances to remain in contention for a Gold Medal at the Olympic Games and another Grand Slam singles title at the US Open later this month.
“It’s one of the best matches of the year I played, I think”. “At the start of the week I was not feeling that comfortable on the court”.
Obviously frustrated, Wawrinka leaned on the net after the misplay, shaking his head then pulling his shirt over his face as he walked back to the baseline to the laughter of fans.
His opponent, Kei Nishikori, flashed a big smile on Centre Court.
After a quick 32-minute first set, Djokovic overcame a break point by Nishikori with two breaks of his own in the second set to clinch the title, 1000 ATP points and the $782,525 prize.
“I hope I can step it up a little more and win some titles, but I think still Novak is biggest challenge for me”, Nishikori said.
“He was hitting very good serves and was very aggressive until the 5-3 game”.
Midway through the second set on Saturday, Wawrinka botched a sure-fire high backhand from at the net as Nishikori stood still on his side of the court, having conceded the point.
The world number one, who claimed his fourth Canadian title with a commanding performance over Asia’s top player lasting less than 90 minutes, will waste no time in heading south to Brazil for the weekend start of the Summer Games. “So I expect that I will not have a good rhythm because she can hit a victor and you don’t see the ball, but she can miss sometimes”.
“I guess he missed a few shots at the beginning”.
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Djokovic began the second set with a break of an error-prone opponent and was never threatened as he streaked to victory.
