Raonic trounces Goffin; Polansky upsets Ebden
I was fortunate to find a way to win. I’m glad it went the way it did Milos Raonic
toronto — Milos Raonic posted a second Canadian victory on Monday, joining Peter Polansky in the second round of the ATP Toronto Masters after a 6-3, 6-4 defeat of David Goffin.
Vasek Pospisil missed out on a local hat trick in a night match as the Canadian lost to Croatian Borna Coric 6-4, 6-3 after a three-hour afternoon rain interruption.
Former Wimbledon finalist Raonic, ranked 29th due to an injury plagued 2017, won in his first match since going out in the Wimbledon quarterfinals to John Isner a month ago. World number 121 Polansky reached the second round for a third straight year, upsetting Australian world number 52 Matt Ebden 7-6 (7/3), 6-4.
As in 2017, when he ran into Roger Federer after winning his home opener, Polansky could again face a Grand Slam champion, with Novak Djokovic lying in wait should the Serb overcome Chung Hyeon.
Raonic sent over his 15th ace as well as a double-fault as he served for the win against 10th seed Goffin, who had no answer to the Canadian’s big game.
The Belgian sent a return long to hand Raonic a match point, with the Canadian finishing it all off on his first chance as Goffin sent a forehand into the net after an hour and a quarter.
“It was tough, I was fortunate to
find a way to win today,” Raonic said. “I was not sure how it would so — I’m glad it went the way it did.”
The Canadian had to fight to secure the second set, having saved three break points as he served for the opener.
“I’m glad to have gone through that. I’m also glad he didn’t make any returns. This was a good win, but there is another match coming which will create a lot of problems for me.
“Right now, I’m happy with how things are going.”
In other matches after the bad weather passed, 11th seed Diego Schwartzman crushed Kyle Edmund, the lone Brit in the field after the withdrawal of Andy Murray, 6-1, 6-2.
Jack Sock, who has not won a match since before Roland Garros more than two months ago, lost in the first round for a fourth straight event, going down 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to Daniil Medvedev.—