Novak Djokovic too strong for Richard Gasquet in Toronto final

Novak Djokovic kicked off his North American hard court 
season with a clinical 6-3, 6-2 win over Frenchman Richard 
Gasquet to clinch the Toronto Masters late on Sunday, marking the second consecutive year he has won the Canadian event.

The top-seeded Serbian, who won 12 months ago when the tournament was held in Montreal, made light work of Gasquet, holding serve throughout a 61-minute match, during which he overwhelmed his opponent. The win capped a busy week for Djokovic and a number of other players, who had little time to recover after competing at the London Olympics and then were forced to battle numerous rain delays that wreaked havoc on the playing schedule.

“It’s been a long week, a tough week, especially for the players coming from the Olympics but I am very glad that I came here,” said Djokovic, who lost in the bronze medal match at the Olympics three days before his opening match here. When the 14th-seeded Frenchman sent a return shot long in the final game, Djokovic celebrated in front of a capacity crowd that included Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

World number two Djokovic broke Gasquet three times and won an astonishing 84 per cent of his first service points en route to his 12th career ATP Masters title and third in Canada in the past five years. Djokovic, who held serve in 50 of 51 games this week, also sent a warning shot to his rivals ahead of the his US Open defence which starts in New York later this month. Without Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal and with Andy Murray having retired injured after the opening round, Djokovic was clear favourite and, even after rain washed out a full day of play the Serb showed barely any sign of fatigue when he was forced to play his quarter-final match only four hours after winning his last-16 encounter.

However, he did not want to discuss when he expects to reclaim the world number one ranking. “I was just thinking about winning here” said Djokovic, who now moves on to the Cincinnati Masters.