Raonic poised to make racket at Rogers Cup
Tournament’s No. 4 seed feeling confident in Wimbledon aftermath
Less than a month after TORONTO becoming the first Canadian man to appear in a Grand Slam singles final, Milos Raonic is in a good position to make more history at next week’s Rogers Cup.
World No. 5 Stan Wawrinka thinks so, anyway.
Raonic, of Thornhill, Ont., is seeded fourth at the Rogers Cup tournament due to withdrawals from three of the top five men’s players. Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Roger Federer all withdrew from the event over the past week.
A win at the Masters 1,000 event would make the 25-year-old the first Canadian singles champion on home soil since 1958, when Robert Bedard beat American Whitney Reed in the then-named Canadian Championship.
“If you look, Milos is getting closer and closer,” Wawrinka, the tournament’s second-seed, said after the official draw was revealed Friday at Rogers Centre.
“He just played the final at Wimbledon, I think he’s trying everything to improve. He’s giving himself a chance to beat them and hopefully maybe win a Grand Slam soon.
“It’s going to be interesting to see how they (opponents) are going to play because Milos has improved a lot. He’s a really dangerous player.”
Raonic, who’s coming off a loss to Murray at the Wimbledon final, came close to winning the Rogers Cup in 2013, when Nadal beat him in the championship match.
Raonic could meet World No. 1 Novak Djokovic, the only seed high- er than him in his half of the draw, no earlier or later than the semifinals.
The 25-year-old Raonic may have to get through two other Canadians on his way to the semis, though. Frank Dancevic, of Niagara Falls, Ont., and Vancouver’s Vasek Pospisil are also in Raonic’s quarter of the draw.
Dancevic is slated to play American Sam Querrey in the first round while Pospisil will face Jeremy Chardy of France.
On the other side of the bracket, Steven Diez of Toronto will play Kyle Edmund of Britain and 17-year-old Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., plays Australian Nick Kyrgios.
Shapovalov is making his Rog- ers Cup debut after winning the Wimbledon boys’ title.
Wawrinka and third- seed Kei Nishikori of Japan are both in the other half.
Meanwhile, the women’s Rogers Cup tournament begins Monday in Montreal. Local fan favourite Eugenie Bouchard will face veteran Lucie Safarova in first round action. Safarova defeated Bouchard in their only previous meeting.
The tournament draw, which was held Friday at Uniprix Stadium, also saw Aleksandra Wozniak of Blainville, Que., matched with Italian Sara Errani while Francoise Abanda of Montreal meets Elina Svitolina of Ukraine.