He can beat you with his defence-not just his ability to get to balls, but to convert would-be-winners into quality returns.
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With the win, Djokovic bagged his fourth Rogers Cup and tour-leading 30th Masters 1000 title. Take Roger Federer, Andy Murray, and Rafael Nadal out of the mix and Djokovic was expected to roll to this week’s Rogers Cup title.
At 2016 Rogers Cup, things went in the right direction for the Serb. Nishikori should be proud of his effort in the second set, and he will take home $383,690 in prize money and 600 ranking points for his efforts.
Djokovic’s positivity and “getting in the zone” mentally were crucial at the Rogers Cup.
“This was my best match of the week”, said Djokovic, whose recent form has been patchy.
“(I) haven’t beat Novak for a long time on hardcourt”, Nishikori said.
Djokovic strolled into a set and a break lead over the Japanese star.
Wawrinka led 5-2 in the opener, but failed to press home his advantage and eventually lost a tie-break after failing to take four set points.
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic of Serbia will face Japan’s Kei Nishikori in the championship match after a 6-3, 6-2 win over France’s Gael Monfils on Saturday night.
A snapshot of modern tennis, the two waged war from the baseline, exchanging a series of long rallies that seemed to please the capacity crowd. Among the names of the most recent champions, from 2013 to 2015, Djokovic’s name was notably absent from the victor column.
The odds are stacked against Nishikori for Sunday afternoon’s match. The Frenchman won the first point, and the second-on a Djokovic double fault.
But he failed to consolidate as Nishikori found a solution in the sixth game of the second, making no mistake at triple-break point by ripping a big forehand victor to secure his first break of the match and get back on serve.
“And after that, I tried to be more aggressive and really concentrate because he was a little bit down and I knew if I had to let him, he’s going to come back”. It’s never easy sometime, but I feel that every experience you have during those years with different coaches or with different stuff that happens in your life helps you at the end, for sure’. The Olympics are really special, I will give my best to fight for a medal.
Given how hard he pushed Djokovic in the final set, Nishikori should head into Rio, where he’ll be representing Japan, with plenty of confidence as he continues to establish himself as one of the most legitimate threats to eventually crack tennis’ top four. He even got the crowd to hug each other when his match was over (no, seriously).
Djokovic and Raonic were featured prominently in pre-tournament promotional campaigns, and their projected semifinal meeting figured to be the high-profile, high-skill level matchup that could define the event.
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Monfils came into the semi-finals having won nine straight matches, including the Citi Open title in Washington, D.C. last Sunday.
