NO JOY FOR FELIX IN FORFEIT OVER HURTING RAONIC
Montreal teen moves on as fellow Canuck withdraws with apparent back injury
Felix Auger-aliassime is through to the third round of the Rogers Cup, but the Montreal teenager had mixed feelings about how he got there.
Fellow Canadian Milos Raonic had just won the second set to pull even in their second-round match when he stunned the packed house at IGA Stadium by retiring with what appeared to be a back injury.
The match goes into the record book as 6-3, 2-6, retired.
Auger-aliassime’s serve was close to perfect in the first set. He lost only four points in five service games, put 78 per cent of his first serves into play and delivered five aces. He broke for a 3-1 lead after Raonic led the game 40-15.
But it was a different story in the second set. Whatever problems Raonic was having, they weren’t reflected in his play. It was Raonic who broke serve in the fourth game and he maintained the advantage for a 4-1 lead after surviving three break points. As he double-faulted to fall behind 0-40, he climbed back to deuce with his 12th ace and took advantage of two unforced errors by Auger-aliassime to hold.
As the second set wore on, there were signs that all was not well with Raonic, who has dealt with knee and back problems this year.
He received treatment on his back during a medical timeout after going ahead 4-1 and he had a brief conversation with a trainer two games later. He packed it in after a another consultation at the end of the set.
It’s the second time this year Auger-aliassime has been credited with a win because of a Raonic injury. They were scheduled to play in the semifinals on the grass in Stuttgart in June but Raonic pulled out with a back problem.
Auger-aliassime will mark his 19th birthday Thursday by playing sixth-seeded Karen Khachanov of Russia, who was a 6-4, 6-7, 6-2 winner over Stan Wawrinka. That match will be in IGA Stadium at 2:30 p.m. ET.
Elsewhere, there were two upsets involving top-five seeds.
Hubert Hurkacz of Poland, who was the last player to gain a direct entry into the main draw, defeated fourth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
Fifth-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan was also upset, by Frenchman Richard Gasquet, 6-7 (6), 6-2, 7-6 (4) in a nail-biter which lasted more than five hours including a rain delay of two hours.
Nishikori was scheduled to play doubles with Grigor Dimitrov, but he withdrew with an elbow injury.
Eighth seed Daniil Medvedev of Russia breezed to a 6-3, 6-0 win over Kyle Edmund of Britain.
SHAPOVALOV OUSTED
Earlier, Dominic Thiem ended years of frustration at the Rogers Cup and then apologized that his first Canadian win in six tries had to come at the expense of Canadian Denis Shapovalov.
“I finally won a match here, but I’m sorry it had to come against Denis, who’s a good guy and a good player,” Thiem said after beating the 20-year-old from Richmond Hill, Ont., 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
Thiem, the No. 3 seed from Austria, took control of the match with a service break to go ahead 5-3 in the third set. After Shapovalov double-faulted to give Thiem a break point, he tried to catch Thiem off guard with a drop shot. Thiem reached the short ball and put up a lob. Shapovalov stretched to get his racket on the ball, but hit his overhead into the net.
Shapovalov, who came into this tournament after losing in the first round of his four previous tournaments, was hoping to regain the magic of his performance here two years ago when he beat Rafael Nadal en route to the semifinals.
“I really enjoyed my two matches on court, even losing today,” said Shapovalov.
“It was a lot of fun to kind of go out there, play against a great player like Dominic, really put it to the test, see what damage I can do. I think if a couple of shots had went my way, I could have definitely won the match. It’s obviously a little tough to swallow. But like I said, it’s something that I can really look at in a positive way.”
NADAL MOVES ON
Rafael Nadal, the defending champion and No. 1 seed, opened the proceedings on centre court by saving two set points in a tiebreaker and defeating Daniel Evans of Britain 7-6 (6), 6-4.
Nadal lost his serve in the opening game, but broke Evans in the sixth game and had a 6-5 lead when rain halted play for 28 minutes.
When play resumed, Evans held serve to force the tiebreaker and held two set points at 6-4. Nadal saved one with a forehand winner and Evans squandered his second chance when he hit a short return off Nadal’s serve. That resulted in an easy forehand winner for the Spaniard who ran out the next two points for the set.
“All the matches are difficult here,” said Nadal. “We are talking about a Masters 1000. All the players in the draw here are dangerous for everyone. Daniel is a player that combines an aggressive game with good hands. He’s able to read the game very well, so he knows how to play tennis in terms of tactics. So this was an important victory for me, no?”