A year ago, Novak Djokovic was in a different place.  When Montreal rolled around, he still only had one loss to his name, that to Roger Federer in the semis of the French Open.  Nonetheless, he won Wimbledon for the first time, indeed, reached the finals for the first time.

Like many top players, he took a break after winning Wimbledon, and did not compete until Montreal.  Everyone thought the top 3 would challenge him on the surface that worked well for nearly all Djokovic’s rival.

But it didn’t happen.

Federer lost to Tsonga in the third round, the man who had ousted him at Wimbledon.  Andy Murray lost to the rangy South African, Kevin Anderson a round earlier.  Rafael Nadal also exited the same round to the Croatian player, Ivan Dodig.

Djokovic pretty much headed to the finals without having to face a major rival.  He beat Monfils in the quarters, then Tsonga in the semis, and finally, Mardy Fish in the finals.

This year, however, Djokovic’s losses have piled up.  Of the top four, he’s the only one that made it to the Olympics and left without a medal.  One can understand that Federer wanted his rest after the Olympics, even if the color of the medal wasn’t right.  He didn’t even go to Toronto, sending his apologies prior to playing the finals.  Nadal said he was still hurt and wouldn’t play Toronto, and since then, has announced he wouldn’t play Cincinnati either.  Andy Murray did arrive in Toronto and stayed long enough to play a single round, but decided to drop out on the day that rain mostly washed out play.

The rain on Thursday pretty much forced most matches to be played on Friday where players had to double up just to get the tournament back on schedule.  Thus, Djokovic, the defending champ, came out and beat Sam Querrey in afternoon match, then came out later on to beat Tommy Haas, in three sets.  Fellow American, Mardy Fish also had similar results.  Fish beat newcomer to the top ten, Juan Monaco, in three sets, and looked comfortable in the first set against Richard Gasquet, before running out of gas, and losing tamely to the erratic Frenchman in the next two sets.

Janko Tipsarevic may have had the easiest road, beating Marin Cilic in two easy sets, and then beating Marcel Granollers in two tougher sets.  John Isner needed three sets to beat German, Philipp Kohlschreiber, and was down a break to the Canadian hero, Milos Raonic, in the first set, but came back to take the tiebreak, then broke in the second, to take the match in straight sets.

John Isner will play Richard Gasquet in one semi while Serb compatriots, Novak Djokovic and Janko Tipsarevic, will play in the other semis.