Three Canadians still alive at Miami Open
MIAMI — Denis Shapovalov advanced to the second round of the Miami Open with a 6-3, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (6) win over Serbia’s Viktor Troicki on Thursday.
The 18-year-old from Richmond Hill, Ont., held on after giving up a 5-1 lead in the third set. He needed six match points to finish off Troicki.
Shapovalov, making his Miami debut, will meet No. 24 seed Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the second round.
Vancouver’s Vasek Pospisil joined Shapovalov in the second round with a 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5) win over veteran Ivo Karlovic.
The hard-serving Croat had 15 aces to Pospisil’s five, but Pospisil won 81 per cent of first serve points.
Pospisil next faces 27th seed Andrey Rublev of Russia.
Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont., the 20th seed in Miami, had a first-round bye and will next face Swedish wild-card Mikael Ymer.
On the women’s side, topranked Simona Halep of Romania struggled to post a 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 second-round win over French Open lucky loser Oceane Dodin.
In the first career meeting between the players, Halep allowed the 98th-ranked Dodin to break her serve on six of seven opportunities she presented in the match, which lasted more than two hours.
Halep broke Dodin’s serve for the seventh time at 4-4 in the third set before closing it out.
Halep played in her third career Grand Slam final at the Australian Open in January, but has yet to secure a Grand Slam trophy.
Halep’s best Miami Open was reaching the 2015 semifinals.
Also Thursday, former No. 1 Angelique Kerber of Germany advanced to the third round with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Johanna Larsson of Sweden.