Novak Djokovic’s reign as world No 1 remained unblemished as the Serb blasted Frenchman Gael Monfils 6-2 6-1 off the court to ease into the semifinals of the Montreal Masters on Friday.
Djokovic’s win extended his season record to a spectacular 51-1 and leaves him on course to become the first to win a title on debut as the world’s top-ranked player since Pete Sampras in 1993.
It has also set the scene for an intriguing showdown with another Frenchman in Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who earlier delighted the centre court crowd with his 6-4 6-4 win over eighth seed Spaniard Nicolas Almagro. “I have played the best match of the tournament, no doubt,” Djokovic, who has not dropped a set at the event, said.
“I played really, really fast and tried to constantly put pressure on Gael because I didn’t want to give him any time to get back to the match or to think about what he’s going to play. Overall performance was fantastic.”
The other semifinal will see American Mardy Fish take on Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic. Fish finished strongly to beat Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka 6-3 6-7 6-0 while Tipsarevic booked his spot with an upset win over seventh seed Czech Tomas Berdych 6-4 6-4.
“He was certainly the best Novak I ever met,” said Monfils. “Today, he was too strong. I played well, I hit the ball hard but I never had any solution to finish off a point.”
