Djokovic wins Rogers Cup, eyes U.S. Open
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E-mail Xinhua, August 13, 2012
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| Novak Djokovic of Serbia hits a return during the final match of the Toronto Masters tennis tournament against Richard Gasquet of France in Toronto, Canada, on Aug. 12, 2012. Novak Djokovic won 2-0 to claim the title. [Xinhua] |
![Novak Djokovic of Serbia hits a return during the final match of the Toronto Masters tennis tournament against Richard Gasquet of France in Toronto, Canada, on Aug. 12, 2012. Novak Djokovic won 2-0 to claim the title. [Xinhua]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20120813/000cf1bdc9db119301d457.jpg "Novak Djokovic of Serbia hits a return during the final match of the Toronto Masters tennis tournament against Richard Gasquet of France in Toronto, Canada, on Aug. 12, 2012. Novak Djokovic won 2-0 to claim the title. [Xinhua]")
Accepting the trophy, Djokovic thanked the audience for seeing the tournament through multiple rain delays over the past few days, and the fans responded with wild cheers.
After three days of rain, which drove everyone involved to distraction - Djokovic on Saturday urged the tournament organizer to install covers on the courts to save time and efforts to dry them after rain - Toronto saw sunshine for the first time since Wednesday. Despite a few ominous-looking rain clouds covering part of the sky through the day, Sunday remained dry and pleasant, a perfect day for some tennis power play.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper was in the audience watching the men's singles final held at Rexall Center north of downtown.
Djokovic joked he would discuss with the prime minster about dual citizenship when interviewed by CBC after his victory. Toronto has a large population of immigrants from Serbia, and the presence of Serbian fans has been evident whenever Djokovic or his countryman Janko Tipsarevic played during the tournament.
Since eliminating his first opponent, Australian teenage Bernard Tomic, on Wednesday, overpowered German veteran Tommy Haas in a tough 3-set match in the quarterfinals, and dispatched No. 9 Tipsarevic in two straight sets Saturday night's semifinal match.
Olympic Champions Take Doubles Title
In the doubles final, American twin brothers Bob and Mike Bryan defeated Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez of Spain in three sets of 6-1, 4-6, 12-10.
The Bryans, fresh off their victory at the Olympics, took the first set 6-1 in just 20 minutes. But the Spanish duo bounced back in the second set and won 6-4.
In the tiebreaker, the Spanish pair had a match point at 9-8 but could not seal the deal. The Bryans eventually took the tie breaker 12-10 thanks to a big serve by Bob Bryan and errors by the Spanish.
After the match, Mike Bryan attributed the Rogers Cup win to the pair's victory at the Olympics in London.
"We always play better when we're happy," the older Bryan twin told reporters. "Right now we feel like even though it gets sticky and tough, we've been winning all the big points for the last couple weeks; we did the same today."
Bob Bryan praised their rivals. "We had the momentum big time at the beginning of the match," Bryan told reporters. "Could have been a 40-minute match but they got back in.
"You' ve got to give them a lot of credit fighting and making that such an entertaining match."
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