It's better to give than receive, but when you're facing Novak Djokovic it's imperative to take advantage of what's given. Djokovic misfired on a few forehands to gift Richard Gasquet triple break point in the opening game of tonight's Toronto final. That benevolent beginning came to an abrupt end: Djokovic was in no more mood for philanthropy.
The second-ranked Djokovic denied all three break points in the opener and quickly put Gasquet in the rear-view mirror, winning 21 of the next 22 points on his serve and cruising to a 6-3, 6-2 victory to successfully defend his Rogers Cup title. It is Djokovic's third career Rogers Cup crown — he joins six-time champion Ivan Lendl and three-time titlist Andre Agassi as the third man to win the Canadian Masters three times in the Open era — as he continues his ascent into the rare air of elite champions. The top-seeded Serbian captured his 12th career Masters title, which puts him fourth on the all-time list behind only Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Agassi.
It was billed as a battle of brilliant backhands — Gasquet's dazzling one-hander vs. Djokovic's devastating two-hander — but Djokovic hits a heavier ball and his expansive reach and elastic ability to bend eye-popping retrievals into the corners while stretched, seemed to shrink the court and diminish Gasquet's self-belief.
The top-seeded Serbian's greatest strength may be his lack of a significant weakness. Djokovic is quite adept at playing the score and managing the match. It's one thing to recognize the critical moments; it's an entirely different task to respond with conviction. Djokovic lifted his level at 3-all, forcing Gasquet to retreat with a rainbow lob then firing a forehand winner down the line to hold for 4-3. Djokovic's forehand, particularly his ability to create angle off the forehand down the middle, is a much more dangerous shot than Gasquet's sometime floating forehand. The Frenchman was muttering to himself after a pair of forehand errors before missing his signature shot, the backhand up the line, to fall into a 0-40 hole. Cornering Gasquet on his backhand side with a series of probing inside-out forehands, Djokovic turned his shoulders and drilled a forehand down the line, drawing the error to break at love for 5-3.
The 14th-seeded Frenchman wailed a wild backhand down the line to face triple set point and wore the slumped shoulders of a man in dire need of a psychological stunt double. Djokovic drove a second serve ace down the middle to serve out the 33-minute first set at love, winning the last eight points.
Gasquet, who beat three Top 15-ranked players — Tomas Berdych, Mardy Fish and John Isner — to reach the final, never recovered. Given Gasquet's past futility vs. Djokovic (the Serbian had won six of their prior seven meetings, including 11 straight sets) and the fact that the reigning U.S. Open champion was 41-0 when winning the first set this season, you can understand Gasquet's growing doubt. He double faulted into the net to start the second set surrendering serve as Djokovic won five straight games to take command.
Painting the sideline with a vicious inside-out forehand winner, Djokovic broke again for 5-2, closing a commanding performance in 61 minutes. A defiant Djokovic saved 28 of 29 break points he faced in the tournament, raising his 2012 hard-court record to 25-2. A match that began with a gift concluded with a donation as Djokovic tossed his racquets into the crowd.