Kei Nishikori outclasses Stan Wawrinka to book place in Rogers Cup final

“I had a lot of opportunity that I could have done better, but he won the match and that’s it”.

The Swiss second seed’s loss of form continued in the second set and Nishikori capitalised to build a convincing 5-0 lead which set him up for victory.

Japanese ace Kei Nishikori dug deep to beat Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland on Saturday and advance to the Rogers Cup final.

Saturday’s match will mark Wawrinka’s first excursion beyond the quarter-finals in Toronto, but he’s not satisfied yet. The Japanese player now has 40 wins this season.

Facing his toughest opponent this week, Wawrinka won 60 per cent of points played, up from 53 per cent in his first two outings. Wawrinka would save one, but a backhand error would cost him the break.

Nishikori reeled off four straight points from 6-4 down in the tie-break and powered through the second set to take the match.

Playing for his first Masters final since he won his lone Masters shield at the 2014 Monte Carlo, Wawrinka appeared to be in command building leads of 4-1 and 5-2. But just as he went ahead, Wawrinka began to fall apart. A net cord that rattled long gave Nishikori his second set point.

Dodig and Melo beat the Romanian team of Florin Mergea and Horia Tecau 6-4, 6-3 in the day’s first semifinal, while Murray and Soares beat Canadians Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil 6-4, 6-7 (5), 10-7.

Prediction: Wawrinka in 2 sets. He was broken in his first service game – and it went downhill from there.

When Wawrinka missed the mark with a forehand ending the 64-minute opener, he bounced his racquet in disgust seeing a set that seemed in his grasp slip away.

“I start really well the first game, showed me that I was ready, aggressive, moving really well”.

Nishikori and Novak Djokovic have them, and they enable fans to send players messages, follow their matches and watch archived video. “I hope more people, you know, join in the app to see more tennis”. “I’m really happy with today”.

Novak Djokovic enjoyed a 12th successive victory over Gael Monfils to book his spot in the final of the Rogers Cup in Toronto. And we played in Miami this year. However, the Frenchman did miss more than his fair share of break point chances (one-of-seven on the night). “He’s one of the quickest on tour and I’m going to have some fun”.