Djokovic hones in on another trip to finals
No. 1 slips past Berdych in shaky outing
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 t he clutch — or both — Berdych was simply unable to seize the moment, allowing the t op- s eeded 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 i n Canada in 2011 and 2012, as well as in 2007, awaited Frenchman Gael Monfils, who beat Milos Raonic 6- 4, 6- 4.
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 l ead 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 quarterfinal could have possibly felt any stranger.
“I was very fortunate to get the first set,” Djokovic said in a televised on- court interview.
“It gives you a little bit more of relief coming into the second set.”
Berdych was 1- for- 8 on break-point 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.
It was Djokovic’s 12 th consecutive win against Berdych, the world No. 8 who consistently hovered inside the top 10 but has not defeated any of the Big Four players in the past two years.
In a 3- 5 hole and staring down two match points, Berdych fought it off, but Djokovic served out t he match, making it 17 consecutive losses for the Czech against top- five opponents. Djokovic improved to 430 this season when he wins the first set.
Earlier in the day, Stan Wawrinka plastered his opponent, then joked that his coach had better not be skipping work to get plastered while his semifinal competition at the Rogers Cup was being determined.
“My coach is hopefully watching and not drinking a beer upstairs,” Wawrinka said with a smile after overpowering Kevin Anderson of South Africa, 6-1, 6- 3, in a match that wrapped up in one hour, 13 minutes on Friday afternoon to become the first man through to the semifinal round.
Wawrinka’s coaching staff would have been keying in on Japan’s Kei Nishikori, the tournament’s third seed who eventually outlasted upstart Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, 6- 3, 3- 6, 6-2, to solidify one of two semifinals slated for Saturday at the Aviva Centre.
Regardless, the Swiss, ranked fifth in the world, has looked impressive all week and likely needs no extra pointers heading into his first semifinals appearance at the Canadian Masters 1000-level event.