* Djokovic to take on Tsonga for place in final
* Fish to meet Tipsarevic in other semi (adds later matches)
By Steve Keating
MONTREAL, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Novak Djokovic's reign as world
number one remained unblemished as the Serb blasted Frenchman
Gael Monfils 6-2 6-1 off the court to ease into the semi-finals
of the Montreal Masters on Friday.
number one remained unblemished as the Serb blasted Frenchman
Gael Monfils 6-2 6-1 off the court to ease into the semi-finals
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-seeded
Spaniard Nicolas Almagro.
"I have played the best match of the tournament, no doubt,"
Djokovic, who has not dropped a set at the event, told
reporters.
"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 semi-final 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-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych 6-4 6-4.
Djokovic came into his meeting boasting a 6-0 record over
Monfils and quickly gained the upper hand. He broke the wiry
Frenchman to lead 4-2 and finished off the set with another
break before surging to 5-0 in the second.
"He was certainly the best Novak I ever met," said Monfils,
who was despatched in a tidy 73 minutes.
"Today he was too strong.
"I played well, I hit the ball hard but I never had any
solution to finish off a point.
"I was hitting beautiful rallies but at the end of those
long rallies, he was always hitting the winner."
The powerfully built Tsonga, who has been in superb form and
upset two-time champion Roger Federer in the third round, was
never threatened by Almagro and celebrated his victory over the
frustrated Spaniard with a leaping pirouette.
American Fish, who had failed to win a match in two previous
appearances at Montreal, had a tougher ride and was far from
dominant in an error-strewn match that failed to produce the
best in either player.
Fish broke Wawrinka three times to grab the opening set but
neither could player land their serve in an ugly second set
featuring eight service breaks -- four by each player.
Wawrinka battled to forced the match to a decider after
taking the tiebreak 10-8 but promptly fell flat as Fish
steamrolled his way to the win.
"The second set was very strange for both of us," Fish said.
"We couldn't hold serve to save our lives but we returned really
well ... There's the positive, I guess."
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