Djokovic, a three-times champion on the Canadian hardcourts, needed just 54 minutes against the overmatched Sock to book his spot in the last eight.
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With neither man able to break the other’s serve, the set came down to one more tiebreak. “I served well in the last game – and I finished the match with an ace”. Obviously he was angry, so I just had to deal with it. Hopefully we can just put it behind. “Under pressure it’s easy to get nervous and miss if you start thinking about the match point or the break point”. Gulbis double-faulted on the next point and it was all Djokovic after he took the tiebreaker.
Chardy will face the victor from top seed Novak Djokovic and Latvian qualifier Ernests Gulbis. I felt like everything was going in.
On court after Djokovic, second-seed Andy Murray had no problems with Gilles Muller, beating the Luxembourg native 6-3, 6-2. The Scot broke Muller’s serve four times in the 65-minute match.
“You need to stay focused on your game, your service game”, said Chardy.
“So hopefully I can prepare a little bit better for it this year”.
“I’m very proud to reach my first Masters semi-final”, said the 49th-ranked victor who levelled his season record at 18-18.
The 33-year-old American advances to the quarter-finals where she will face Roberta Vinci who snapped the win streak of rising star Daria Gavrilova with a 6-4, 6-3 win.
The rain delay and the three-set matches meant that the the semifinal between fourth-seeded Kei Nishikori and seventh-seeded Rafael Nadal didn’t start until 10 p.m. and that was to be followed by a match between second-seeded Andy Murray and 10th-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. But he relied on his serve-his favourite weapon-and hit 32 aces in the match.
Chardy responded by saving five match points against him the tiebreak. “He played great today”. Managed to win against him a few weeks later at the US Open, which was for me a big win.
Kyrgios’s sledge, his initial attempt to downplay it and issue of a belated apology only after his ATP sanction will reinforce the view that Australia has become a breeding ground for tennis brats, albeit highly talented ones.
TA’s high performance director Pat Rafter, a paragon of good sportsmanship during his own successful playing career, has talked tough about a culture of “entitlement” and only rewarding players with the right attitude. “No doubt about that”.
A day after his controversial sledge aimed at Stan Wawrinka, Tomic’s Australian countryman Nick Kyrgios was booed and went down to John Isner 7-5 6-3.
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In doubles, the lone remaining Canadian Daniel Nestor and his French partner Edouard Roger-Vasselin eliminated Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2.
