Kyrgios crashes in Toronto first round
Women’s big guns cruise into Montreal second round
TORONTO, Canada, July 26, (AP): Nick Kyrgios turned in a patchy performance to exit the Toronto Masters 7-6 (7/2), 3-6, 6-3 on Monday at the hands of Wimbledon junior champion Denis Shapovalov.
The 17-year-old Canadian set up a match point with his 12th ace, then calmly closed out the upset over the 19th-ranked Australian.
In his first match since losing to eventual champion Andy Murray in the Wimbledon fourth round, Kyrgios at times showed little interest in his on-court duties, serving at lightning speed with only a few seconds between points. During one changeover, he was heard muttering to himself in dissatisfaction. The Australian 11th seed somehow struck an ace as his racquet flew from his hand on one serve, but his 13 aces were out-numbered by 18 double faults.
Shapovalov, playing in only his second ATP event, will take on Former top 10 contender Grigor Dimitrov, who is trying to claw his way back in what has been a disappointing season. The Bulgarian reached the second round with a 5-7, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 win over Yuichi Sugita. Three other seeds advanced, with number nine John Isner coming back to eliminate Dudi Sela 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Australian 12th seed Bernard Tomic beat Alejandro Gonzalez 6-4, 7-6 (7/0) while Jack Sock, the number 16, defeated Denis Kudla 6-2, 6-2.
Dimitrov, ranked 48th, got out of danger against Sugita after trailing a set and a break.
Dimitrov, who lost six straight matches prior to Wimbledon, improved to 21-16 in 2016.
Dimitrov said he finally turned the corner in the match while trailing 4-1 in the second-set tiebreaker, standing just a handful of points from a firstround exit.
The Bulgarian won a lob-to-lob exchange with the 107th-ranked Sugita, coming through to eventually level the set and take on new life in the third.
South African Kevin Anderson ended a losing streak of three consecutive opening matches, downing Serb Viktor Troicki 7-6 (7/4), 6-3.
Canadian Steven Diez surprised Briton Kyle Edmund 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. The wild card entry will play Tomic.
In Montreal, former Grand Slam champions Petra Kvitova and Samantha Stosur were unfazed by opening-day weather delays, cruising into the second round of the WTA hardcourt tournament in Montreal on Monday.
Two-time Wimbledon champion Kvitova, seeded 12th, needed just 59 minutes to get past Poland’s Magda Linette 6-1, 6-2.
The Czech, who won her first North American hardcourt title in
TENNIS
Montreal in 2012, didn’t face a break point against the young Pole, who pushed former world number one Venus Williams to three sets in Stanford last week.
Kvitova, playing her first tournament since Wimbledon, broke Linette twice in each set and finished her off with an ace.
Former US Open champion Stosur, seeded 13th, had to work a little harder to dispatch Britain’s Heather Watson 7-5, 6-3. After some first-set struggles, however, she broke Watson three times in the second to wrap up the win.
“To get through in straight sets, I’m pretty happy,” the Australian said. “Overall I thought I served pretty well. There weren’t a lot of points off my serve where she could dictate off the first shot.”
A string of rain delays stopped play for a total of four hours.
Organizers eventually pushed the scheduled last match of the night, between Canadian Francoise Abanda and Chinese qualifier Zheng Saisai, to Tuesday.
The only other seed in action, 17thseeded Elina Svitolina, advanced with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over American qualifier Jennifer Brady.
The top eight seeds — now led by second-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany after the late injury withdrawal of world number one Serena Williams — have first round byes.
Croatia’s Mirjana Lucic-Baroni booked a second-round meeting with Wimbledon finalist Kerber with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Japan’s Nao Hibino.
Britain’s Naomi Broady beat Puerto Rico’s Monica Puig 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 to line up a clash with thirdseeded French Open champion Garbine Muguruza — who was installed at the top of the revised draw after Williams pulled out with inflammation in her shoulder.