Novak Djokovic extinguishes the red-hot Gael Monfils to advance to Rogers Cup final

TORONTO — In the last 24-hours or so, the question that had arisen among those following the latest happenings of tennis was: could anyone stop the charging freight train that is Gael Monfils?

Turns out someone could — and it just happened to be the best player on the planet.

Top-ranked Novak Djokovic beat Monfils 6-3, 6-2 in the Rogers Cup semifinal before a packed Centre Court on Saturday night at the Aviva Centre to advance to Sunday’s final where he’ll play third-seed Kei Nishikori.

While the Frenchman hadn’t beaten Djokovic in his last 11 tries, he arrived for this semifinal riding a nine-match win streak, dating back to July 20. Ten days ago, Monfils beat Yen-Hsun Lu in straight sets in Washington. From there, he’d go on to win four more matches, save championship point against Ivo Karlovic and win the Citi Open title.

Just five brief hours later, he boarded a plane to Toronto, and, after one day of rest, began winning again.

New city, same Monfils, it seemed.

En route to the Rogers Cup semi, Monfils knocked out two Canadians, most notably homegrown hero Milos Raonic, who many — including organizers — had hoped would be on the main card Saturday night alongside Djokovic. But one night after playing spoiler and five matches into the Rogers Cup, it finally looked as if all the winning had finally caught up to Monfils.

“For sure I'm not fresh,” he said. “I'm lucky. I get some few pains, but hopefully not major. But, you know, you learn even when you are tired like this. Big match like this, you learn.”

With Raonic out of the draw, Djokovic had officially assumed the role as the main attraction. Before his semifinal, he walked out to a loud cheer from the large Serbian contingent in attendance, who brought their flags — close to a dozen — and regular “Nole, Nole” cheers with them. Not to be outdone, though, one lone child proudly held up an orange sign — 'Go Monfils Go.' it read — that made his allegiance to the Frenchman quite clear.

“There is a big Serbian community in Canada, in Toronto area,” Djokovic said. “I always felt like at home. I felt very much accepted, so it's always pleasure to play in such environment.”

Despite the lopsided support, it was Monfils who actually struck first in the match. At 1-1 in the first set, Djokovic double faulted on break point to give his opponent the 2-1 lead. But in the next game, Monfils would commit a series of unforced errors, including pushing a backhand long to end a spectacular 39-shot rally, giving the break right back.

Djokovic would earn his second break when Monfils misfired an easy overhead smash onto his own side of the court, rivaling an ugly miss from Stan Wawrinka in the earlier semifinal for misplay of the tournament.

Overall, however, the first set was far from ugly. The two baseliners put on a show for the sold-out crowd, engaging in long, athletic rallies with each player making stunning return after stunning return.

But after Djokovic took the opening set 6-3, the match would seemingly go on auto-pilot for the top seed, who broke Monfils twice in the final set, and cruised to a 6-2 set win.

“He start missing a little bit at the start. He was missing a little bit. I think I got some opportunities and I took them,” said Monfils. “And then suddenly I think he didn't miss -- he was not missing. He was going for his shot and being much better in the rallies. Yeah, suddenly being not even solid, but super solid. When Novak is playing like that, it's very tough to beat him.”

After the match, fireworks burst from the Aviva Centre and Djokovic, as has become his custom, turned to each side of the court to thank his fans.

While Sunday’s final will be Nishikori’s first, it will mark the fifth time Djokovic has played until the last day of this event, including for the second straight year. Should he win, it’ll be his fourth title in Canada. As he typically does, Djokovic will enter the final as the favourite, having only lost to Nishikori twice in their 11 matches, and not once this season so far.

Having survived some shaky matches early on, and putting his third-round Wimbledon loss far behind him, Djokovic proved he's back to his dominant self after extinguishing the red-hot Monfils quite handily. Another win on Sunday, and the question, as it so often has been, will be: Who can stop Djokovic?

“Kei is one of the quickest players we have on tour,” Djokovic said. “I know that he loves to take the control of the rallies and just to kind of overpower his opponent from back of the court. But, you know, I know what to do tactically. I have played him many times. I will try to prepare for that match and eventually get a win.”