Novak Djokovic, of Serbia, celebrates his win over Kei Nishikori, of Japan, during the men’s final of the Rogers Cup tennis tournament, Sunday, July 31, 2016, in Toronto.
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Midway through the second set of their match, 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. Djokovic was the only player in the world’s top four to show up in Toronto, and a matchup with Canada’s Milos Raonic didn’t materialize, but on Sunday afternoon the 12,500 spectators on hand got what they paid for – clinical brilliance from the world’s top player, who dismantled Nishikori 6-3, 7-5 over 82 minutes.
Novak Djokovic eased into the final of the Rogers Cup with a straight sets victory over Gael Monfils on Saturday night. Nishikori tied the set at 3-3 with a forehand return and won the following game for a 4-3 lead. “I’m quite disappointed, especially with the way I played with that first set and also the second set”.
In contrast to his rival, Nishikori made no mistake when his set point arrived and it was plain sailing for the Japanese thereafter as Wawrinka folded. One rally saw the two split almost 30 shots, with Monfils putting the ball too deep to give Djokovic a break point. It was Djokovic’s ninth consecutive win against Nishikori, who was bidding for his first Masters 1000 tournament title. However, I’ve said time and time again, betting against Djokovic isn’t a great idea.
But after scoring an early break to go up 2-1 in the opener, Monfils failed to consolidate it. Djokovic broke right back and converted on four of five break-point opportunities overall. So I was really feeling the pressure every game.
“I’m just very pleased with the way I played and with the way I feel-hopefully I can carry that into Rio”, he said.
As Djokovic himself put it: “I couldn’t ask for a better start of the hard court season”.
After a strong start, Wawrinka struggled on serve throughout the match, only putting 44 percent of his first serve points in play.
Nishikori has faced the world number one in three Masters 1000 events this year and lost each time – the final of the Miami Open in April and the semi-finals of the Madrid Open and the Internazionali BNL d’Italia the following month.
In a tight first set, eight breaks of serve were exchanged before the Romanian waltzed through the tiebreak 7-2.
Djokovic will now look to claiming an Olympic gold medal in Rio, something that has eluded him throughout an illustrious career – although he won Olympic bronze in Beijing 2008. “I can’t wait to get [to put] on the Serbian tracksuit and enjoy that wonderful experience”.
“I’m glad that I managed to use that part of my game as a weapon today because Kei is one of the best returners in the game, he’s one of the quickest players, so I had to serve well”.
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Nishikori fell to 11-8 in career finals and 1-3 this year, claiming the Memphis title.
