Reuters
Montreal, August 16: Second seed Andy Murray breezed to a 6-3, 6-0 semifinal victory over Kei Nishikori here Saturday to set up a final meeting with Novak Djokovic at the Rogers Cup here. In an earlier semifinal, the Serb had overcome unseeded Jeremy Chardy of France 6-4, 6-4.
A three-time champion here, Djokovic has a 19-8 career record against Murray and has won their last eight meetings since the Scot beat Djokovic in the 2013 Wimbledon final.
Djokovic, who received treatment on a sore right elbow several times during changeovers, showed no signs of distress on court as he dismissed Chardy in just 80 minutes to run his record to 10-0 against the Frenchman.
“I didn’t allow Jeremy to find his forehand too much; one break per set was enough to win the match,” said Djokovic after the match. “It (elbow trouble) comes and goes, now it is not very pleasant but I have to continue with it.”
In the other semifinal, Nishikori appeared to be fatigued in the second set as Murray won 12 of the final 13 points. “I think I’m more tired,” the Japanese fourth seed said, referring to his quarterfinal match against Rafa Nadal which he won 6-2, 6-4.
“Everything was sore these couple of days. Today (Saturday) it got a little bit worst so I couldn’t really move 100 per cent. “Especially after the first set, I was feeling it more and more. At the beginning of the first set I was okay, but after that I wasn’t the same player,” the Japanese added.
Results
Novak Djokovic bt Jeremy Chardy 6-4, 6-4
Andy Murray bt Kei Nishikori 6-3, 6-0