10SBALLS SHARES RICKY’S PREVIEW AND PICK FOR THE TORONTO FINAL: NOVAK DJOKOVIC VS. KEI NISHIKORI

Written by: Staff on 31st July 2016

Rogers Cup tennis tournament quarterfinals

10SBALLS SHARES RICKY'S PREVIEW AND PICK FOR THE TORONTO FINAL: NOVAK DJOKOVIC VS. KEI NISHIKORI

epa05448129 Novak Djokovic of Serbia in action against Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic during the quarterfinals of the Rogers Cup Men?s Singles tennis tournament in Toronto, Canada, 29 July 2016. EPA/WARREN TODA |

By Ricky Dimon

Novak Djokovic and Kei Nishikori will be facing each other for the 12th time in their careers and for the fifth time already this year when they clash in the final of the Rogers Cup on Sunday.

Nishikori once found himself out in front in the head-to-head series 2-1 after upsetting Djokovic in the 2014 U.S. Open semis, but Djokovic has since won eight in a row at Nishikori’s expense. Plenty of those were blowouts, but their two most recent meetings–both on the clay-court swing–were competitive. Djokovic got the job done 6-3, 7-6(4) in the Madrid semifinals before outlasting Nishikori 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(5) at the Rome Masters.

The world No. 1 appeared to ripe for an upset this week after exiting Wimbledon in the third round against Sam Querrey and arriving in Toronto with a right shoulder/arm issue. Although Djokovic has endured stretches of being less than dominant, he scraped past Gilles Muller, Radek Stepanek, and Tomas Berdych before raising his level to crush a red-hot Gael Monfils 6-3, 6-2 in the semis.

“I guess he missed a few shots at the beginning; I got some opportunities and I took them,” Monfils said of being competitive early in the match. “And then suddenly he was not missing anymore. He was going for his shots and being much better in the rallies. He became super solid. When Novak is playing like that, it’s very tough to beat him.”

Nishikori booked his spot in the championship match by beating Dennis Novikov, Rajeev Ram, Grigor Dimitrov, and Stan Wawrinka while surrendering just one set to Dimitrov in the process. The world No. 6 is now an outstanding40-11 for his 2016 campaign, which includes a title in Memphis and runner-up performances in Miami and Barcelona.

“I think he started much better in the first couple games, especially,” Nishikori said of Wawrinka. “He was hitting very good serves and was very aggressive until the 5-3 game. I started returning better and he was missing a little bit. I think he had more chances to get the first set. After that, he started playing a little slower. I knew I had to step it up, otherwise he’s going to come back. I’m just happy to win today.”

A win on Sunday may be a more a difficult proposition given his recent futility in this head-to-head series in addition to Djokovic’s form against Monfils.

Pick: Djokovic in 2