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ATP TORONTO: Nishikori beats Wawrinka for his 3rd Masters 1000 final, Djokovic dispatches Monfils
- Updated: July 31, 2016
The 5th meeting between Kei Nishikori and Stan Wawrinka will be likely forgotten by tomorrow morning, that’s how poor and low-quality it was! Kei defeated Stan 7-6 6-1, in two completely different sets, but the match in general was full of errors on both sides, with more than 20 for each player already in the first set. This was 10th Masters 1000 semi-final for Kei overall, and he still follows the pattern of losing to Novak Djokovic or Andy Murray when he faced them and beating all other players. Thus, he will have a chance to fight for his first Masters 1000 crown in his 3rd final of this series. In addition, this was Kei’s first Top 5 win since US Open 2014 against Djokovic, losing the nest 16 matches against the guys from the very top of the game!
Wawrinka had a very good match against Anderson yesterday, one of the best for him in 2016 as he said, but he was unable to repeat that today, constantly serving under 50% and making a huge number of errors with his groundstrokes. Even in that circumstances, Swiss player was just a glimpse away from taking the opening set, wasting two set points in game 12, and another 2 in the tie break. Kei repelled them off and he never looked back once he stole the opener, with Wawrinka hardly even trying in set number 2, including one of the biggest misses of the season. Ironically, Stan will climb in the ATP rankings with these points from Toronto, moving ahead of Rafael Nadal in 4th place. If he wins the title tomorrow, Nishikori will pass Spaniard as well.The first set turned out to be a true classic, not in terms of quality but with excitement and the result going ups and downs for both. Stan started stronger, breaking his rival in game 4 with some deep and constant groundstrokes, and he saved a break point in the following game to maintain his lead that was now 4-1. Two games later Stan again played against break points, this time, he fends off two to stay in front, leading 5-2 and forcing Kei to serve to stay in the set. Out of sudden, Japanese found his best game to win the next 3 games and level the score at 5-5, taking 12 out of 13 points in that span. The set was now very alive, and Nishikori even had two more break points in game 11 (4th consecutive return game in which he had a break point), …
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