Kei Nishikori advances to first Rogers Cup final, could meet Djokovic or Monfils

TORONTO — The fourth-seeded Stan Wawrinka leaned over the net, shook his head in disbelief then pulled his burgundy polo shirt over his head as he walked back to the baseline, surely trying to hide from the humiliation.

The Swiss player had just missed a gimme at the net, botching his (usually reliable) backhand way wide. It's a point Wawrinka will likely want to forget, but it went something like this. Having popped his volley return high into the air, Kei Nishikori stood at the net waiting for his opponent to put away the easy shot. Instead, Wawrinka let it bounce then sent his backhand shot straight into the doubles alley.

As a small consolation, his theatrics after the miss would help him win over the large Centre Court crowd — which included a fair number of Swiss fans — even if he wouldn’t win the point.

“You don't feel good on the court when you miss that kind of shot. It can happen, you know. At the end of the day we can all miss easy shots,” Wawrinka said in his post-match press conference. “I'm quite disappointed, especially with the way I played with that first set and also the second set. I shouldn't let it go. I had a lot of opportunity that I could have done better, but he won the match and that's it.”

After a close first set, the third-seeded Nishikori would take 11 of the last 13 games en route to a 7-6(6), 6-1 win in the first semifinal at the Rogers Cup on Saturday, advancing to Sunday’s final where he’ll play either Novak Djokovic or Gael Monfils.

With Wawrinka listed as the second seed and Nishikori as the third, not much separated the two entering the semifinal. In their previous four matches, Wawrinka held a slim 3-1 lead in their head-to-head. Before Saturday, neither player had ever played in a Rogers Cup final, though that was about to change.

Wawrinka would strike first in the opening set, earning the break to go up 3-1 when Nishikori sprayed his much-admired two-handed backhand wide. From there, it looked as if the Swiss player would coast to an easy set win. But with Wawrinka serving at 5-2, Nishikori earned three break-point chances. Wawrinka  would save one, but a backhand error would cost him the break.

In their next service games, each player would starve off break opportunities— Nishikori also saved two set points — as the match went to a first-set tiebreaker. There, Nishikori would give Wawrinka a 4-2 advantage after he double faulted. But just as he went ahead, Wawrinka began to fall apart. He double faulted himself on set point, wasting his second opportunity to close out the set. Then, a pair of errors off his racket would give Nishikori the 8-6 tiebreak win.

In the second set Wawrinka’s level dropped considerably. He was broken in his first service game — and it went downhill from there. In essence, that missed backhand at the net told the story of the set. Nishikori would eventually take it easily, winning 6-1 in a brisk 26 minutes.

“I tried to concentrate first couple games in the second set, because I knew he was a little bit different than first set. So I tried to play more, you know, patient,” Nishikori said. “If gave him chance, you know, he's a top player so he's going to come back strong. So I tried to play more intensity and, yeah, it's great to finish early like this today.”

For now, though, Nishikori must sit and wait until late Saturday night to find out who he’ll meet in the final. Nishikori has yet to beat Djokovic this season, and while he holds a 2-0 career advantage over Monfils, the Frenchman could come in riding a 10-match winning streak, should he upset the world No. 1 in the night session.

“He's a little bit different player right now,” Nishikori said of Monfils. “He's been playing great tennis these couple weeks. And we played in Miami this year. He had many match points against me. So I think it's going to be tough match, either Monfils or Novak.”