GAEL MONFILS CONTINUES HOT STREAK AT ROGERS CUP TENNIS, NOVAK DJOKOVIC ADVANCES TO FACE TOMAS BERDYCH

Written by: Staff on 29th July 2016

Citi Open tennis tournament in Washington DC

GAEL MONFILS CONTINUES HOT STREAK AT ROGERS CUP TENNIS, NOVAK DJOKOVIC ADVANCES TO FACE TOMAS BERDYCH

epa05438596 Gael Monfils of France returns a shot against Alexander Zverev of Germany during their semifinals match of the Citi Open tennis tournament, at Rock Creek Park Tennis Center in Washington, DC, USA, 23 July 2016. EPA/ZACH GIBSON |

Monfils continues hot streak at Rogers Cup, Djokovic advances to face Berdych

By Ricky Dimon

Gael Monfils extending his winning streak to eight matches when he held off David Goffin 7-6(5), 2-6, 6-4 during third-round action at the Rogers Cup on Thursday afternoon. Monfils won three fewer points than his opponent, but he got the job done in the moments that mattered most and advanced to the quarterfinals after two hours and 14 minutes.

The reigning Washington, D.C. champion seized an early upper hand despite trailing 4-0 in the first-set tiebreaker. He won seven of the next eight points to take it, which allowed him to conserve energy in the second set and gear up for a third.

“He had a very good option in the first set in the ‘breaker; a good lead,” Monfils said of Goffin. “Somehow I managed to [win] it. I don’t even know how.”

The 10th seed’s reward is a fifth career meeting with Milos Raonic on Friday. They have split their four previous contests, but Raonic is 2-0 against Monfils this season. The world No. 7 prevailed 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 at the Australian Open and 7-5, 6-3 in Indian Wells Masters–both in quarterfinals.

Raonic has only improved since then, as he is up to third in the Race to London thanks partly to a runner-up showing at Wimbledon. So far in Toronto the Canadian has rolled over Yen-Hsun Lu and Jared Donaldson in easy straight sets.

Novak Djokovic of Serbia in action against Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic during the third round of the Rogers Cup Men’s Singles tennis tournament in Toronto, Canada, 28 July 2016. EPA/WARREN TODA

Friday’s night session will also feature Novak Djokovic, who headed into this week as a question mark. The world No. 1 was not only dealing with an apparent arm problem during practices, but he was also coming off a shocking third-round Wimbledon exit (to Sam Querrey). Nonetheless, Djokovic scraped past Gilles Muller in two competitive sets in his opener before raising his level to beat Radek Stepanek 6-2, 6-3 on Thursday night.

One of the most lopsided head-to-head matchups is what awaits the top-seeded Serb on Friday’s quarterfinal schedule. Djokovic is a dominant 24-2 lifetime against Tomas Berdych; a record that features a perfect 20-0 mark on hard courts. Djokovic has won each of their last 11 encounters and is 22-1 in the last 23.

A relatively stuck-in-neutral Berdych at least managed to reach the quarterfinals at the French Open and the semifinals at Wimbledon, but both runs could have been attributed to favorable draws. The Czech has also enjoyed a good one in Toronto, but this is obviously where his good draw has come to an end.