Raonic reaches 3rd round, but Pospisil falls to Nadal
NEW YORK (CP) — Milos Raonic felt he stepped up in the second round of the U.S. Open — and the scoreline indicates the Canadian did just that.
After an inconsistent performance in a four-set win over qualifier Carlos Berlocq to open the final Grand Slam of the year, the No. 25 seed downed France’s Gilles Simon 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 on a hot and humid Wednesday at Flushing Meadows.
“Overall, I did things well and took care of my serve,” Raonic, of Thornhill, Ont., said. “I was a lot more disciplined with myself. I wasn’t going up and down in the match like I did my previous one. Overall, I’m happy.”
Raonic had 17 aces to Simon’s none and broke his opponent on three of six chances.
The hard-serving Canadian improved to 5-1 against Simon, with victories in all three of their hard-court matches.
Fellow Canadian Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., went the distance against Italy’s Andreas Seppi on Wednesday to pull out a five-set victory and advance to the third round.
No. 28 Shapovalov found himself down two sets to one before coming back for the 6-4, 4-6, 5-7, 7-6 (2), 6-4 victory against his 51st-ranked opponent.
In Wednesday’s nightcap, defending champ Rafael Nadal won 46-of-55 first-serve points and wore down Vernon’s Vasek Pospisil 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 at Arthur Ashe Stadium.