Novak Djokovic beats Kei Nishikori in Rogers Cup final

Or, like Sunday’s Rogers Cup Final, he can beat you with his serve, as he demonstrated in straight sets, 6-3 7-5, against world no. 6 Kei Nishikori.

In his first tournament since an upset third round loss to Sam Querrey on the grass of Wimbledon four weeks ago, Djokovic returned to his winning ways and became the first four-time victor of the Rogers Cup.

The Japanese player recorded his fourth straight Memphis title in February for his 11th ATP Tour victory, but he can not seem to solve the world’s top player and has now lost nine straight times to Djokovic.

In the doubles semifinals, Britain’s Jamie Murray and Brazil’s Bruno Soares beat Canada’s Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil 6-4, 6-7 (5), 10-7, and Croatia’s Ivan Dodig and Brazil’s Marcelo Melo topped Romania’s Florin Mergea and Horia Tecau 6-4, 6-3.

After his quarterfinal win over Tomas Berdych, Djokovic admitted, “Things are not clicking 100 percent, but, I’m moving on and hopefully it’s going to get better”.

Djokovic once again went up a break in the second, but didn’t cruise out of this set quite as easily.

Novak was sailing through his service games, serving at 75%, playing only two break points, in the 6th game of the second set when Kei broke back.

“I had too many unforced errors especially during important points”, said Nishikori.

The 26 year-old Nishikori overcame a 5-2 deficit in the first set to win in a tie break on Saturday. Nishikori closed it out on the first of three match points.

The persistent Nishikori held his serve as Wawrinka missed on a pair of set points in the decider, with the Japanese earning the set on his first opportunity from a Wawrinka forehand wide.

Novak Djokovic has played Gael Monfils twelve times in his pro career.

“And after that, I tried to be more aggressive and really concentrate because he was a little bit down and I knew if I had to let him, he’s going to come back”.

“I think still Novak is biggest challenge for me to win against him”.

In the end, the long rallies drained Monfils energy, taking his creative shot making out of play, and it was obvious that a lot of the errors the Citi Open champion made were a direct result of how hard he had to work in the first forty plus minutes of the match.

“I have had previously these particular situations where I wasn’t comfortable one day, but next day it feels better, because when you don’t play well and you win, it gives you a mental boost and confidence that you carry into the next day”, Djokovic said after beating Monfils.

Novak Djokovic was sensationally eliminated in the third round of Wimbledon. Nishikori fits that description to a tee: he is one of the fastest players on Tour, and he loves to play at the baseline. “He was the better player last couple of games”.