Rogers Cup Day 06: Djokovic, Murray to Face Off in Montreal Final
By Charles David Mathieu-Poulin
(August 16, 2015) MONTREAL, Canada – The No. 1 and 2 seeds with face off in the Rogers Cup final for the first time since 2004, as Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray both won in straight sets on Saturday. While Djokovic won 6-4 6-4 against surprising Frenchman Jeremy Chardy, Andy Murray streamrolled through 4th seed Kei Nishikori 6-3 6-0.
The head-to-head between Chardy and Djokovic couldn’t have been more one-sided: the Serb was leading 9-0, never having lost a set. The No. 1 was also looking to get his 30th win in a row in Masters 1000 tournaments, while Chardy was reaching the semifinals at this level for the first time. It showed right from the get-go: Chardy, obviously nervous, started with two double faults in a row and got broken right away. Despite some pain in his elbow which required a medical timeout, Djokovic never looked back to win the set 6-4.
At one point, Djokovic seemed more troubled by a certain smell in the stadium than by his opponent…the smell of marijuana: ‘Somebody’s really enjoying his life around the tennis court and he was probably on the seventh sky somewhere’, Djokovic said in his post-match interview. ‘I felt I was playing better as I was inhaling (laughter).’
The second set followed a similar pattern. While Chardy was at times overplaying, Djokovic remained solid throughout, breaking once. The Serb served quite well, never giving Chardy a look at a break point. In the end, the 6-4 6-4 match was somewhat unmemorable.
Djokovic knows he’ll need to raise his level in the final against Murray: ‘I played better than I did yesterday, but still I need to get at least a level or two higher tomorrow in order to win the title’. Indeed, Murray was flawless in his match against in-form Nishikori, as the Brit only dropped three games.
The start of the match was close, as both players exchanged breaks. The match became a one-way street when, down 4-3, Nishikori got broken despite being up 40-0. Murray never looked back, winning the last 9 games of the match. ‘Once I got the first set, obviously that was the end of the match really. Didn’t really play any rallies at all in the second set. He wasn’t moving much’, the second seed analyzed.
Murray and Djokovic will face for the 28th time, with the Serb leading 19-8. Murray hasn’t won against Djokovic since the 2013 Wimbledon final and already has lost 4 matches to the world number one in 2015. On the other hand, Djokovic (only) leads 6-5 in finals.