Djokovic zeros in on another Rogers Cup
Despite a sluggish outing, world No. 1 gets past an unsure Berdych
TORONTO Tomas Berdych had never before defeated Novak Djokovic on the hard court.
So when Djokovic, the world No. 1, granted his Czech competitor that opportunity on Friday night at the Rogers Cup in Toronto — a Masters 1000-level tournament played on the hard surface — Berdych wasn’t sure what to do with the situation and instead responded with an emphatic “no thanks.”
Whether it came down to mind games or outright awful execution in the clutch — or both — Berdych was simply unable to seize the moment, allowing the top-seeded Djokovic to land in Saturday’s semifinal round following a 7-6 (5), 6-4 win that won’t go down as the 12-time Grand Slam winner’s greatest.
Djokovic, who is two wins away from hoisting the trophy he last lifted consecutively in Canada in 2011 and 2012, as well as in 2007, awaited either Canadian Milos Raonic or Frenchman Gael Monfils.
The Serb’s benevolence came in the opening set when, serving for the set at 5-3, he was given a time violation from the chair umpire — probably something to do with his 10-bounce approach at the service line — and proceeded to net a backhand to give the Czech an unlikely break. Djokovic had earlier broken his opponent to go up 4-2, but the warning, followed by the unforced error, had the top seed reeling as he smacked his racket against the net in frustration at the changeover.
Then, in the tiebreak, Berdych built a 6-3 lead and it was his to win until, two unforced errors later, it wasn’t. The top-ranked Serb saw his opponent cracking and never really looked back after that, simply watching as his opponent flung yet another ball into the net to seal the match in two hours in front of a the standing-room only crowd at the Aviva Centre that might have been wondering if the quarter-final could have possibly felt any stranger.
Berdych was 1-for-8 on breakpoint opportunities in the opener and simply froze in the big moments early against an opponent that held a 24-2 career record against him coming in. Early in the second, Berdych complained to the umpire about the balls that were being used and it was symptomatic of his weird night — he seemingly went looking for adversity.