After reaching the semi-finals of the same tournament last year, the 26 year-old Japanese will have a chance to capture his first ever ATP Masters 1000 Event, having finished runner-up twice (April 2016 in Miami and May 2014 in Madrid).
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Djokovic won his last nine matches against Nishikori and leads the series 10-2. Djokovic dominated the service game as goes ahead in terms of volume and percentage against the Japanese technician, with 19 of 23 (83%) first serve points against 13 of 21 (62%) from Kei Nishikori. He had lost his past eight matches with Djokovic and was 2-9 overall.
Moments after closing out his straight-sets win over Kei Nishikori, newly-crowned Rogers Cup champ Novak Djokovic saluted fans at the Aviva Centre and tossed his sweaty wristbands into the crowd.
The world No. 6 snapped a personal 16-match losing streak against the Top 5 when he defeated Stan Wawrinka in Saturday’s semifinal, but he could not crack the code of the game’s premier player.
“We are all here to connect through tennis, through passion for the sport”.
Djokovic has 12 Grand Slam titles in his career, winning this year in Australia and France. “I had to come up with accuracy in the first serve at least and I hit a very high percentage of first serves, especially in the first set”.
Djokovic has a solid first-serve percentage of 80 per cent and said he was proud that he was able to use his delivery to get out of trouble as Nishikori made a late-match charge. The Romanian took the set on the second of five potential set points in the tiebreaker when Keys hit a backhand wide. “I’m trying to respect the same kind of preparation and routine that I have with my team and that I have respected for so many years”.
“Well, it’s the biggest sports event, so to be part of it is already a huge privilege and honor that I will cherish, as I did in Beijing and London Olympic Games”, said Djokovic when asked about the Rio de Janeiro Games.
Despite Monfils’ dogged determination, the top-ranked Serb proved too much in their Rogers Cup semifinal under the lights, prevailing 6-3, 6-2 to land a spot in Sunday’s final. Although Nishikori has won both of his meetings with Monfils, most players on the ATP Tour consider the Frenchman as tennis’s most risky opponent.
But Djokovic’s appearance, his tenth straight at the Rogers Cup, should have erased any concerns over missing out on witnessing greatness. On the next point, Wawrinka’s shot ricocheted off the net cord and out of play, and his forehand error on the clinching point was truly untimely. “Best two performance came at the right time-last night in semis today in finals”.
Croatia’s Ivan Dodig and Brazil’s Marcelo Melo will face Great Britain’s Jamie Murray and Brazil’s Bruno Soares in the doubles final Sunday afternoon.
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When taking a set off Djokovic seemed a real possibility, Nishikori struggled with double faults and battled to deuce twice clinging to hold serve. “At the start of the week I was not feeling that comfortable on the court”.
