Novak Djokovic may not have had his ‘A’ game at the Rogers Cup, but whatever he had was more than enough to maintain his mastery of the ATP Tour at the Masters 1000 level. Djokovic captured the 30th such title of his career by beating Kei Nishikori 6-3, 7-5 on Sunday afternoon in Toronto.
The world No. 1 fired five aces without double-faulting and broke Nishikori three times to prevail in one hour and 22 minutes.
Djokovic-Nishikori highlights:
“My two best performances came in the semifinals and the final,” noted Djokovic, who raised his level from early-round malaise to hammer a red-hot Gael Monfils on Saturday. “It came at the right moment for me. “It’s a process like any other that has happened many times in my career, where I would start a tournament still feeling a little bit uncomfortable on the court and searching for my rhythm, and then, as the tournament goes on, I find that proper comfort level with shots, with the way I feel, with my mental attitude.”
“Today I think he stepped it up,” Nishikori said of the top-seeded Serb. “He raised his level a lot from these past couple days. He played really deep, and he didn’t give me any free points. He was especially serving really well, so I didn’t have many chances for my return game. I was really feeling the pressure every game.
“I think I need more experience in these kind of matches, but this is a great week even though I lost to Novak. It was the second time this year in the final of a Masters 1000. I think I’m getting closer and closer. I hope I can get a title as soon as possible.”
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