World No. 1 Novak Djokovic overcame a tricky first set to pull off a 7-6 6-4 win over Czech Republic’s Tomas Berdych, to march on to the semi-finals of the Rogers Cup.
The top-seeded Serb squandered early lead as he saved multiple set points to manage a straight-set triumph against the fifth-seeded Berdych in exactly two hours, thereby extending his head-to-head dominance by 25-2 against the same adversary.
Djokovic secured an early break and went 5-2 up in the first set before Berdych staged a spectacular fightback to force in a tie-breaker, where he led 6-3. Djokovic, however, held his nerves to reel off five points in a row to take a closely-fought opener.
A poor performance on serve from Berdych helped Djokovic break at 1-1 in the second set. Subsequently, the Serb served out the match at 5-4 up to set up a date with in-form Frenchman Gael Monfils in the last-four stage.
Monfils, the No. 10 seed, has been playing the tennis of his life of late. After winning his first title of the season in Washington last week, he ousted seventh seed David Goffin in the pre-quarters, before stunning home favourite and No. 4 seed Milos Raonic 6-4 6-4 in the quarters-finals.
“He [Monfils] is playing great tennis at the moment,” a wary Djokovic was quoted as saying by ATP World Tour. “He won Washington. He’s been playing more or less every day for the last couple of weeks. He’s feeling confident on the court.”
Djokovic holds a perfect 11-0 record against Monfils heading into the Saturday’s clash.
