After a long cold winter, of dreary days and frigid nights, spring is a time for renewal, .
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“I just tried to concentrate in the tiebreaker”, Nishikori said.
While Monfils had made some adjustments in the second set-most noticeably his upped aggression-it was simply too little, too late to make an impact.
“Playing against Kei is never easy”, Djokovic said.
“That’s why, for me, the kind of the mindset that I want to have, and one of the biggest priorities I have in mind is to come out with the right intensity and start well”.
“Gael has been in terrific touch, winning Washington last week”.
Djokovic stands poised to hoist his fourth Rogers Cup title, which would be the most of any man not named Ivan Lendl. But, you know, haven’t beat Novak for a long time on hard court so I think it’s going to be a great challenge for me to play Novak again in the final, because we played in Miami and he dominated the game. He converted on the first after 37 minutes.
When taking a set off Djokovic seemed a real possibility, Nishikori struggled with double faults and battled to deuce twice clinging to hold serve.
Swiss second seed Wawrinka’s game went away during the tiebreaker, allowing Nishikori to move into his second Masters 1000 final of 2016. He finished with four aces and even took a 4-3 lead in the second set after winning three straight games. But that slowly slipped away as his 37 unforced errors mounted.
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.
Earlier, Nishikori defeated Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka 7-6 (6), 6-1 to advance to the final.
Djokovic spurned two set points but grabbed his third following a brilliant defensive lob to take it 6-3.
After his loss, Nishikori tried to remain upbeat about his performance against Djokovic and during the week in Toronto.
I have come across many times people asking about the crowns (so called Caps).
These two have played 11 times in the past and Djokovic has won nine of those meetings. With the Olympics set to kick off next week, three of the world’s top four-Federer, Nadal, and Andy Murray- weren’t part of the draw (on the second day of the tourney Federer announced he would miss the remainder of the season to rehab a knee injury).
“It was tough to play Kei today, there were tough conditions, quite windy, fast”. “So that gives me a lot of confidence that I will try to carry into Rio”. “That’s it”, said Wawrinka with a smile.
Halep overcame Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber of Germany 6-0, 3-6, 6-2 to reach her second consecutive Rogers Cup final after she was forced to retire hurt in 2015.
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“I was just really trying to be patient with myself”. 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.
