Rafa masters Djoker in Montreal

Spain’s Rafael Nadal handed Novak Djokovic another semifinal defeat when he beat the world number one at Rogers Cup on Saturday to set up a title decider against local favourite Milos Raonic. 

Nadal held off a surging Djokovic to win 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(2) in a pulsating semifinal that resembled a heavyweight boxing showdown with the duo trading breathtaking winners. The victory was Nadal’s second successive over Djokovic at this stage of a tournament following his epic five-set triumph on clay at the French Open in June. 

‘To beat Novak on any surface is very important. His level is always high and you have to play well ... almost perfect to beat him,’ Nadal said in a courtside interview. 

The Spaniard made a flying start in front of a capacity crowd as Djokovic was unusually tentative and struggled on serve. But the lull did not last long as the Serbian, two time defending champion, stormed back into the contest, unleashing some crunching forehand winners as he drew level. 

With the audience roaring their approval at every thrilling rally, Djokovic looked to have the momentum in the match as he continued to find success in going for his shots, keeping his opponent pinned on the baseline. 

But all the while Nadal showed off some magic of his own and it became clear that this high-quality encounter, the 36th between the pair, would need a tiebreak to settle the issue. Nadal went up another gear in racing a 6-0 lead in the breaker but even in defeat Djokovic went down swinging.

He saved two match points with winners before a forehand drifted long to hand the Spaniard a first hard court victory over his rival since 2010. ‘It was a very close match. There were very few points that decided the winner. I had my chances. He had his chances. At the end he played better,’ jokovic told reporters.

Earlier,  Milos Raonic beat Vasek Pospisil in the first all-Canadian semifinal to crack a top 10 ranking for the first time. Raonic, seeded 11th, beat 71st-ranked Pospisil 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (7/4) and will make his biggest ATP rankings move on Monday when he will become the first Canadian in the top 10. 

‘I really don’t know what to say,’ said Raonic, who won the first ATP semifinal between Canadians since Martin Wostenholme beat Andrew Sznajder in Rio de Janeiro 23 years ago. 

‘Breaking into the top 10 means so much. I’m really happy at the moment, he added. No pair of Canadians had ever done so well at the home event, with Raonic the first local to reach the final since 1958.

He needed two and a quarter hours to claim the victory on his first match point. Two late errors from wild card Pospisil in the tiebreaker, a double-fault and a forehand long, gave Raonic the chance to seal it.

‘Getting to this ranking was a big objective for me, but I still have a tough final to play,’ said Raonic, who fired 14 aces. Pospisil was competing in only his second semifinal of any kind at the Tour level after losing last month in Bogota. 

Raonic reached the final in his 12th elite Masters 1000 event and now stands 27-13 this season. His breakthrough comes three months after starting work with Croatian Ivan Ljubicic.

‘With how I’d been playing, I was happy to get through that first match. I didn’t really think too much of this week. I just wanted to make sure I stayed aggressive and gave myself an opportunity to do well on my goals, as far as development goals, really than results. 

‘I’ve been saying since the start of this week, it’s about developing and getting better. We prepared well physically and on court. For it to come together here is very amazing ... but this week’s not over by any means,’ Raonic added.