World No. 1 Novak Djokovic knocked out Giles Muller, Radek Stepanek, Tomas Berdych and Gael Monfils to reach the final of the 2016 Canada Open. In the title match, the world’s most influential player defeated Kei Nishikori in 83 minutes 6:3, 7:5 in 30 minutes.
Masters 1000 title at age 29 and fourth in Canada. It was Novak’s 33rd win out of 34 tough games in 2016 and the only game he lost in Dubai when he had an eye problem against Feliciano López.
Djokovic did everything right in the first set against Nishikori and went on to win the second set to secure his ninth consecutive victory against the Japanese after a shocking loss at the 2014 US Open. The Serb served 76% and suffered two breakpoints in the sixth game of the second set when Kei took the break.
Furthermore, the Japanese had no chance of a comeback, which put them under a lot of pressure in their service game as they knew they had to do their best to keep in touch with Novak and force at least one tiebreaker. Will happen.
Kei was unable to do so as Novak overtook him from the baseline, especially in the first set. Nishikori improved his second serve in the second set and rallied to lose ground at crucial moments.
Novak’s tennis was out of this world in the first set, serving 85% and showing some brilliant strokes that left Kei no chance. As an excellent omen of his overall performance, Djokovic scored the first ten points in his service game, with Kei getting in touch early.
Novak broke Kei’s serve in the sixth game to lead 4–2 and took it to the end, retaining his serve.
Novak Djokovic became the first player to win 30 Masters 1000 titles in Canada in 2016
The second set began with an early 1-1 break for Novak, and there was little chance of the game going ahead at that time as he was playing very well right now.
Suddenly, Nishikori woke up and began to play much better, taking 12 of the following 14 points to take a 4–3 lead for the first time. Djokovic failed to maintain his level in the first set-and-a-half, which was hardly expected anyway.
He started making more mistakes and finally Nishikori got some air to breathe. Novak won his service game at 4-5 to level the score and transferred the pressure to the other side of the net.
Kei had two game points to lead 6-5, but Novak held it up and took his first break opportunity to take the lead. In the next game, the Serb needed three match points to seal victory and was the first player to enter the record books with 30 Masters 1000 trophies.
Their main advantage was in the least points, where they took the advantage of 36–26. In another classic victory for the best player in the world, those points with five or more shots also went in his favor from 29 to 24.
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