Djokovic sets record with Rogers Cup win

MONTREAL — Novak Djokovic made history on Sunday when he defeated Mardy Fish 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 in the final of the Rogers Cup men’s tennis championship.
The top-seeded Djokovic has been near-perfect this year with 53-1 record and he became the first player to win five ATP Masters 1000 events in a year. That feat is even more impressive because there are still three such events remaining on the schedule.
Fish said he may have been intimidated by Djokovic.
“I had so many chances early,” said Fish. “Maybe if I hadn’t thought about who I was playing against.”
“I think there’s some to that,” Djokovic, of Serbia, said when asked about the Novak Effect. “But at the same time, there’s pressure and expectations that coming with being No. 1.”
Djokovic broke Fish three times, including once to take a 3-2 lead in the deciding set.
“I thought I played well at the start and I got a couple of breaks but then I lost my serve and he made a match of it,” said Djokovic. “In the third set, I was able to break him once and that was the match.”
Fish said getting to the final of a Masters 1000 event takes a physical and emotional and that the loss “hurt.”
“I’ve been in this position four times and I’ve lost every time, all by three sets,” he said.
Fish, the No. 6 seed from the United States, said prior to the final that he couldn’t beat Djokovic from the baseline and those words proved prophetic. When he served well and reached the net, he was competitive but he wasn’t able to do it often enough. And he wasn’t able to take advantage when Djokovic struggled with his serve. He had 10 break-point opportunities and converted only two of them.
“His rallies are just so solid,” said Fish. “His second-serve returns leave you on your back foot. And I think if you look, he leads the tour on break points saved.”
Fish was the better player early in the first set. He won his first two service games easily while Djokovic had to fight off two break points in the third game and three more in the fifth.
But the match turned quickly in the sixth game. At 30-30, Fish came to the net on the next two points and found himself looking at two half-volleys at his feet. He put both of them into the net to give Djokovic the break.
Two games later, Fish opened with a double fault and Djokovic broke him at love to win the set.
Fish knotted the match at a set apiece when he broke Djokovic in the fifth and ninth games of the second set. Fish had to battle to take a 5-3 lead in a game which went to deuce four times before Fish ended it with an ace. He then broke Djokovic at love for the set.
Fish was on a roll of his own coming into the final. While Djokovic took a month off after reaching the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, Fish played Davis Cup against Spain, defended his title at an ATP event in Atlanta and reached the final in Los Angeles.
The victory was worth $450,000 US for Djokovic while Fish earned $224,000.
France’s Michael Llodra, who pulled out of the singles event in the second round with a rib injury, teamed with Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia to win the doubles title. The fourth-seeded team upset the top-seeded American brother act of Bob and Mike Bryan 6-3, 6-7 (5), 10-5. The victory was worth $140,000 while the losers split $70,000.
Llodra and Zimonjic beat the second-seeded team of Torontonian Daniel Nestor and Max Mirnyi of Belarus 6-3, 6-4 in Saturday’s semifinal. The 39-year-old Nestor has won 73 doubles titles but has never won in Montreal. He won the event in Toronto with Sebastien Lareau of Boucherville, Que., in 2000 and with Zimonjic in 2008.
Montreal Gazette
Source: National Post