TORONTO – There was a palpable sense of disappointment for the hometown fans entering Saturday. After all, Milos Raonic had been ousted the previous evening by Frenchman Gael Monfils. But the quality certainly didn’t lack entering the semifinals. Not by a long shot.

Each of the four semi-finalists entering Saturday’s play at the Rogers Cup came in as top 10 seeds, so while the Canadian draught does continue at this tournament, fans were nonetheless in for an entertaining day of tennis.

The first semifinal in the singles draw saw the tournament’s No. 2 seed Stan Wawrinka take on No. 3-seeded Kei Nishikori. Entering Saturday, the two combatants had met just four times with Wawrinka taking three of the matches. But while the Swiss star’s 28-10 record in 2016 is certainly impressive, Nishikori’s 36-11 mark is just as, if not more, noteworthy.

At 5-foot-10, Nishikori is two inches shorter than Wawrinka but at 26, the native of Shimane, Japan is five years younger than his opponent. On paper, this was a very even matchup. On the court on Saturday, it was just as even – at least as far as the opening set went.

When this one started, Nishikori seemed a bit too eager, scrambling all over the court while a composed Wawrinka showed his experience early on. Nishikori, though, settled down a bit as both played a fairly conservative opening set with just a handful of rushes to the net.

Overall, though, Wawrinka was in control, capitalizing on four failed attempts by Nishikori to win games, to go up 5-2. Despite his mistakes, though, the No. 3-seed from Japan hung in there, winning three consecutive games to make it 5-5.

After Wawrinka went up 6-5, he earned a set point but, again, Nishikori and his never-say-die approach crawled back, forcing the tiebreak and taking it 8-6 to capture the opening set. A series of short cross-court volleys were the result of many points in the opening set, giving the fans their money’s worth every step of the way. But if fans were expecting the same back-and-forth battle in the second set, they would be disappointed.

After needing 63 minutes to win the opening set, the rejuvenated Nishikori needed just 25 to win the second and decisive set. While he was effective offensively, Wawrinka looked deflated in the second set as Nishikori took it quite easily, 6-1, to advance to Sunday’s final where he will look to capture his first Rogers Cup title and his first overall title since February 14 when he won the Memphis Open. The win was also Nishikori’s first against Wawrinka since a four-hour-plus quarterfinal marathon at the 2014 US Open.

Following his defeat, Wawrinka was asked if there was anything bothering him, particularly a speculated injury.

“No. I think I had a lot of chance in the first set,” the tournament’s No. 2 seed said. “It was a tough match to play Kei today. Tough condition, quite windy, fast. I had a lot of opportunities to take the set. I didn’t.”

Nishikori touched on his own feelings following the victory. “It was a really tight game,” he said. “I think [Wawrinka] started much better tennis first couple games, especially. He was hitting very good serves and very aggressive.” The No. 3 seed continued, “I start playing return better. He was missing a little bit quick, but still, you know, he was up a break. I think he had more chance to get the first set.”

The second semi featured No. 10-seeded Gael Monfils taking on the No. 1-seeded Novak Djokovic. Djokovic came into the match owning a career 11-1 head-to-head record, but Monfils has been in a groove as of late. In fact, following his victory on Friday night, Djokovic was asked to touch on the Frenchman’s recent game, not letting his lopsided record cloud his expertise on Monfils.

“Gael is – he’s playing great tennis at the moment,” the top-seeded Serbian said. “He won Washington. He’s been playing more or less every day for the last couple of weeks. Played a lot of matches. So, you know, he’s feeling confident on the court. He made a lot of good wins.”

Djokovic continued, “I think he saved some match points in finals of last week, faced a lot of break points in the last round, as well, managed to come out in the tough moments as a better player, which is a characteristic of a champion and of somebody that knows how to cope with the pressure in deciding moments.”

Nonetheless, on Saturday, Djokovic’s dominance continued over the Frenchman but the match was a lot closer than the 6-3, 6-2 score indicated.

Monfils was on his game early. But, unfortunately for him, when it appeared like he was about to take control of the tempo of the match, Djokovic had an answer. After good performances in his first three matches of the tournament, the No. 1 seed was great on Saturday night, bringing his A game to the point where Monfils was just unable to keep up.

Arguably the most notable stat in this match was one’s ability to win a break and the other’s inability to close it out. Djokovic finished the evening with 80% of break points won while Monfils finished with a lowly 14%.

Djokovic certainly was strong on Saturday but perhaps his best is yet to come. We will find that out on Sunday afternoon when the top seed takes on Kei Nishikori in the Final.

Djokovic and Nishikori have met 11 times before with the Serbian taking nine of those matches. Djokovic won the last eight meetings while Nishikori will look to defeat the No. 1 seed for the first time since the semi-final of the 2014 US Open.

Just prior to the Nishikori-Wawrinka duel, though, came the first semi of the doubles draw as the Romanian team of Florin Mergea and Horia Tecau took on the No. 3-seeded duo of Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo of Croatia and Brazil respectively.

Backed by 100% of break points saved and five aces, Dodig and Melo won in straight sets 6-4, 6-3 to advance to Sunday’s final where they will look to avenge their championship defeat in 2014.

In the second doubles semifinal, the Canadian pair of Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil took on the No. 2-seeded Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares.

Despite a valiant effort, in the end, the hometown team just did not have enough in the tank to oust Murray and Soares. The No. 2-seeded squad advanced to Sunday’s final against Dodig and Melo with a 6-4 (6-7(5), 10-8 victory. The Canadians came back from 7-2 down in the deciding set but Murray and Soares held on.

After such a great week in Toronto, it should be quite the finish on Sunday as another Rogers Cup is set to conclude.