TENNIS – Novak Djokovic beat Jeremy Chardy 6-4 6-4 to qualify for his ninth final of the season at the Rogers Cup in Montreal where he will be bidding for his fifth Masters 1000 title this year after winning in Indian Wells, Miami, Monte-Carlo and Rome. Djokovic broke serve once for each set to seal a easy win. Djokovic will take on Andy Murray who beat Kei Nishikori who cruised to an easy 6-3 6-0 win over injured Kei Nishikori. Diego Sampaolo
Djokovic broke serve in the opening game after first time Masters 1000 semi-finalist Chardy made two double faults. Djokovic held his serve to clinch the first set in 37 minutes.
Chardy saved two break points in the opening game of the second set. After receiving treatment to his forearm Djokovic broke serve at 2-2 as Chardy committed .his 14th unforced error of the match. Nole did not face a single break point in the whole match and won 72 percent of first serve points. He was never troubled in his service games and was forced to deuce only once in the whole match.
Chardy was too tired after his epic quarter-final match against John Isner which featured three tie-breaks. Chardy will improve his ranking moving up to World Number 27 in the ATP Ranking.
Andy Murray swept aside Kei Nishikori with 6-3 6-0 in 65 minutes in the second semifinal to return to second place in the ATP Ranking for the first time since 2013 overtaking Roger Federer. Murray converted on six of his 11 break point chances
Both players traded breaks in the first set before Murray clinched another break to go up 5-3 and held his serve in the next game to secure the 6-3 win. Murray fought back from 0-30 to break serve early in the second set before reeling off the last 8 games and 12 of the next 13 points to set up a blockbuster final against Novak Djokovic. The Serb leads 19-8 in his previous head-to head matches against Murray and won their last eight matches. Murray will be bidding to win his third Rogers Cup title after beating Juan Martin Del Potro in 2009 and Roger Federer in 2010.
“It’s nice to get back there. It’s nice to get back there, especially after everything I went through last year with the surgery and dropping out of the top-10, a lot of questions being asked about how my game was physically and stuff. It’s good to get back close to the top. I will keep working hard and try to get that one spot higher”, said Murray.
