CANADIANS ADVANCE IN AUSTRALIAN OPEN.
MELBOURNE, Australia — Canadian Vasek Pospisil squeezed out a tense win over American Sam Querrey in three hours, 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the first round of the Australian Open on Tuesday.
The match ended on a double-fault from Querrey, who had beaten the Canadian in their only other meeting.
Pospisil, of Vancouver, finished with 20 aces, 58 winners and broke on four of five chances.
He next faces Italian Paolo Lorenzi, who beat Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.
Pospisil joins Milos Raonic, who finished a 7-6 (3), 7-6(3), 6-3 victory over Ukraine’s Illya Marchenko with an ace on Tuesday, and Eugenie Bouchard in the second round.
Raonic, from Thornhill, Ont., who lost the Brisbane final this month to Roger Federer, fired 28 untouchable serves, his best at 228 km/h.
“I’m very happy with how I played,” said Raonic.
“I’m hoping 2015 can be my year. I’ve put in a lot of work and I believe I can win a Grand Slam title. I’ve come here to play.”
He will face Donald Young of the United States in the second round of the Grand Slam tournament.
Raonic said that his momentum from a final against Roger Federer earlier this month in Brisbane, Australia, has little to do with how he performs at the first Grand Slam of the season.
“This tournament, every tournament, the previous one has nothing to do with it,” said Raonic. “I always start at zero. I have to find my way into it.
“That’s something I’ve learned to accept, I wasn’t the best at it before, especially the first few years on the tour. But it’s just about getting through and giving myself an opportunity to play better in the next match.”
In early women’s secondround matches, No. 10 Ekaterina Makarova beat Roberta Vinci 6-2, 6-4, No. 21 Peng Shuai had a 6-1, 6-1 win over Magdalena Rybarikova and Carina Witthoeft beat Christina McHale 6-3, 6-0.
No. 2- ranked Maria Sharapova was playing fellow Russian Alexandra Panova on Rod Laver Arena.
Bouchard, ranked No. 7, was slated to face Kiki Bertens, an unseeded qualifier from the Netherlands, later Wednesday.