Top-ranked Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic lived up to his title as he snatched the Rogers Cup (Canada Open) from Japanese player Kei Nishikori in the final match, scoring 6-3 and 7-5.
Despite Djokovic’s countless victories this year, winning the 2016 Rogers Cup is a significant victory for the Serbian, as last year he failed to win the cup, losing to British Andy Murray in the final (6-4, 4-6, and 6-3).
Djokovic, who is ranked first worldwide in men’s singles tennis by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), previously won the Rogers Cup in 2007, 2011, and 2012.
Nishikori is a rising star in the tennis world and is ranked sixth worldwide in men’s singles tennis by the ATP. In April he made it to the Open Banc Sabadell tennis championship in Barcelona. Though he lost to Spanish Rafael Nadal (6-4 and 7-5), he led Japan to victory for the first time in this championship, as well as in 2015.
In another first, Romanian Simona Halep, ranked third internationally, became the first Romanian woman to win the Rogers Cup. Halep’s emerged victorious from a match against US player Madison Keys (7-6 and 6-3) this year.
In the women’s doubles division, Halep and her compatriot, Monic Niculescu, defeated the Russian duo of Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina in the final (6-3 and 7-6).
Last year, at the 2015 Rogers Cup, Halep was beaten in the women’s final against her Swiss rival, Belinda Bencic.
In this year’s men’s doubles, the final was won by the duo of Croatian Ivan Dodig and Brazilian Marcelo Melo against British James Murray and Brazilian Bruno Soares, with scores of 6-4 and 6-4.
In the same division in the 2014 Rogers Cup, this same Croatian-Brazilian pairing actually lost the final to Austrian Alexander Peya and Soares (6-4 and 6-3).
In 2013, the Austrian-Brazilian duo also won the doubles title after beating the British pairing of Colin Fleming and Andy Murray.
The most successful doubles players at the Rogers Cup since 2000 have been the US pair, Bob Bryan and Mike Ryan. Together they won the cup in 2002, 2006, 2010, 2012, and 2015, and were runners-up in 2008 and 2011.
In 2008, they lost the final to Canadian Daniel Nestor and Serbian Nenad Zimonjić. In 2011 they were defeated by French duo Michaël Llodra and Zimonjić.
This American pairing are a force to be reckoned with in the tennis world, as they perform outstandingly together. In this year’s Barcelona Open doubles division, they took home gold after winning against Argentinean Pablo Cuevas and Spanish Marcel Granollers (7-5 and 7-5).
Together they have also won two Olympic medals. In the 2012 London Summer Olympics they won gold, and bronze at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.