Djokovic dominates to set final date with Nishikori
World No. 1 overpowers Monfils in quest for fourth Cup title
Trailing by a game in the second set of his Rogers Cup semifinal, Gael Monfils walked to his courtside chair and unsheathed a shiny new black Wilson racquet from its plastic wrapping. Then he hit his next shot into the net. And then he dropped five of the next seven games on the way to losing the match to world No. 1 Novak Djokovic.
It wasn’t the racquet. It was the opponent.
Top-seeded Djokovic dismantled Monfils 6-3, 6-2, ending the Frenchman’s nine-match win streak and earning a spot in the final. Sunday will present Djokovic with a chance to win a fourth Rogers Cup.
He will face Kei Nishikori, who beat Stan Wawrinka in straight sets.
“(I) haven’t beat Novak for a long time on hardcourt,” Nishikori said. “We played in Miami and he kind of dominated the game, so I hope I can (get some) revenge this time.”
Saturday’s win was the 29-year-old Serbian’s 12th straight over Monfils, who last defeated Djokovic in 2004 when both players were juniors.
“You do have certain comfort, mental comfort, knowing that you have had plenty of success against the next opponent,” said Djokovic, who is also 9-2 against Nishikori. “That’s not a guarantee that you can win the match. Actually, the more success you have against the player actually makes him more eager to come out and play his best tennis.”
Fans and organizers could be forgiven if Monfils’ 6-4, 6-4 win over hometown favourite Milos Raonic on Friday night sent them into the semifinals with a hangover.
The week before the tournament, organizers said ticket sales had surged since early July, when Raonic reached the Wimbledon final. When Djokovic and Raonic both landed in the top half of the draw, eliminating the possibility of a showdown in Sunday’s final, the potential main event moved up a day.
Djokovic and Raonic were featured prominently in pre-tournament promotional campaigns, and their projected semifinal meeting figured to be the high-profile, high-skill level matchup that could define the event.
Monfils spoiled those plans and tried to bring that momentum with him into Saturday’s semifinal.
Djokovic had dominated head-tohead, winning all 11 previous meetings, but Monfils entered with that nine-match streak and the confidence that comes with it. Last Sunday, he outlasted big-serving Ivo Karlovic to win the Citi Open in Washington D.C.
Then Friday he calmly responded to Raonic’s 230-km/h serves, outpacing the local favourite over two entertaining frames.
Monfils won two of his first three games Saturday night before Djokovic seized the momentum in a match characterized by long baseline rallies and unforced errors. Where Djokovic rarely erred, Monfils’ mistakes were costly — like the first-set overhand smash that landed on his own side of the net.
“I think I got some opportunities and I took them,” Monfils said. “And then suddenly, I think, he didn’t miss. . . . He was going for his shot and being much better in the rallies — not even solid, but super solid.
“When Novak is playing like that, it’s very tough to beat him.”
In the doubles semifinals, Briton Jamie Murray and Brazilian Bruno Soares defeated Canada’s Olympic tandem of Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil, 6-4, 7-6, 10-7. The win sends them to Sunday’s final against Croatia’s Ivan Dodig and Brazil’s Marcelo Mel, who recorded a 6-4, 6-3 win over Romania’s Florin Mergia and Horia Tecau.
Earlier Saturday, American duo Bob and Mike Bryan, who won doubles gold at the London Olympics, announced they would skip Rio over concerns about the Zika virus.