The top seed and three-time Canadian titleholder cruised to victory against 37-year-old Stepanek, who kept the crowd entertained with extravagant shot-making. The pair thrilled big-serving enthusiasts the world over, as Berdych and Harrison combined for 30 aces during their two hour and six minute round three match.
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Until now Djokovic, the tournament’s top seed, and Berdych, the fifth seed, had been rivals and peers in the same way Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova are.
Novak played only two loose games, first time around he saved 2 break points but at the start of the second set Radek broke him to get in front for the moment but that didn’t last long.
But Djokovic earned a second-set break for 2-1 and rode the margin to his eventual victory in a match which was well below his best level.
Give me Djokovic to advance to yet another final.
“I guess I was just able to focus on the next point”. Ultimately, unforced errors were Muller’s undoing, with both sets easily in reach of the unseeded player from Luxembourg. The most recent match was in the 2014 Paris Masters, a match Djokovic won in straight sets. However, Milos Raonic has taken the last two matches against Gael Monfils, beating him both times in their two matches in 2016 in Indian Wells and the French Open.
“It’s actually a pleasure to have more and more players to share with”, said Raonic, who was one of a record seven Canadians playing in the second round of the Rogers Cup, including Eugenie Bouchard and Francoise Abanda in the women’s tournament in Montreal. “He won Washington. He’s been playing more or less every day for last couple of weeks…So, you know, he’s feeling confident on the court”.
“I was fortunate to stay tough”.
Fourth-seed Agnieszka Radwanska topped Monica Niculescu 6-1, 7-5; seventh-seeded Roberta Vinci topped fellow Italian Camila Giorgi 2-6, 6-3, 6-4; and Kristina Kucova beat eighth-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Second seed Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland also advanced to the quarter-finals after overcoming American Jack Sock 7-6, 6-2.
Wawrinka was in full flow against Anderson as he swept the opening set in a master-class display. “And just because I saw that he was going to return from close, I went a little bit harder into the body just to try to make him think about it, hopefully make him step back to open up the angles for myself more”. “It showed me that I was ready, aggressive, moving really well”.
“There’s definitely disappointment in the way I lost my serve”, said Raonic.
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Two-time Grand Slam victor Wawrinka, the world number five, is chasing his fourth title of the season after success at Chennai, Dubai and Geneva.
