Top-seeded Djokovic dismantled Monfils 6-3, 6-2, ending the Frenchman’s nine-match win streak and earning a spot in the final.
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The Serbian tennis star, won the hardcourt event in 2007, 2011 and 2012.
En route to the Rogers Cup semi, Monfils knocked out two Canadians, most notably homegrown hero Milos Raonic, who many – including organizers – had hoped would be on the main card Saturday night alongside Djokovic.
Djokovic’s four Rogers Cup titles is still short of Ivan Lendl’s record of six, but he now has a record 30 ATP Masters 1000 titles.
The 12-time Grand Slam victor will now head straight to South American to begin preparations ahead of the start of the Olympics later this week.
What is there left to say about the dominance that Djokovic has imposed on this sport? “Naturally, I’m going to be very disciplined, committed, and focused to do well”.
The increase in pace and attack from Nishikori briefly shook Djokovic, and a few errors crept in: With the clock at one hour, the Japanese man led in the set for the first time, 5-4. Maybe in the second set I had some chances, but there were too many unforced errors from me.
“I mean it was by my mistakes and then it was just basically trying to get used to the conditions because they were quite different”, the world No. 8 said. Djokovic leaned on his expert returning to stay in the game, and Nishikori banged an untimely shot wide, allowing the world’s best player to serve for the match.
The win for Djokovic also serves another objective: His confidence is back as he prepares to play in the Olympics starting next week. He played really deep, and he didn’t give me any free points.
“Playing against Kei is never easy”, Djokovic said. He’s been the best tennis player in the world for years, yet he doesn’t have a gold medal to show for it after settling for a bronze eight years ago in Beijing. “In this tournament it is not working very well, but in general in past couple of years it has served me very well”. World number five Halep, of Romania, has now won 23 of her last 26 matches, a stretch that has included lifting titles in Madrid, Bucharest and now Montreal.
The Serb lifted his game in Canada as the week progressed, sweeping to the title without the loss of a set and dispatching challenges from Gael Monfils in the semi-finals followed by Japan’s Nishikori. “It was my best (serving) performance of the week”. Djokovic took the set point.
“It was a shame to lose the final but it was still a great week for me”, Nishikori said.
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Wawrinka served for set one at *5-3 and had set points to win it 7-5 and in the ensuing tie break, but as we’ve seen many times from Wawrinka in non-Grand Slam events he capitulated feebly when things didn’t go his way. “I’m obviously not going to say it’s a bad week just because I lost one match”. But entering Saturday, Wawrinka had won three of their four previous meetings, including a straight-sets quarter-final win at the 2015 Australian Open.
