MORAL WIN FOR CANADIAN
Schnur makes it hard for Gasquet
Brayden Schnur didn’t win his first-round match at the Rogers Cup Monday, but he showed that he can hold his own against a veteran pro.
Richard Gasquet, who is ranked No. 29 on the ATP Tour, needed a shade more than three hours to beat Schnur, a 22-year-old Toronto native who has been on the professional tour for a year, 7-6 (5), 5-7, 6-1.
“Even though I didn’t win, I’m proud of the way I played,” said Schnur. “I’ve been working hard and it’s good to see the work is paying off. This is one of the best matches I’ve ever played and I’m trying to take the positives out of it.”
Gasquet took control of the deciding set when he broke Schnur’s serve in the fourth game. At 30-40, Schnur elected not to play a lob on his backhand and the ball clipped the sideline to give the Frenchman the 3-1 lead. Schnur might have won this match in straight sets, but he missed a golden opportunity after taking a 5-4 lead in the first set. He went up 0-40 on Gasquet’s serve, but Gasquet brought the count back to deuce. Schnur had one other set point opportunity, but failed to capitalize and Gasquet won the tiebreaker 7-5.
“Set points come and go,” said Schnur. “I don’t think I held back on any of them. I went for my shots. He played a little too good on some of them and that’s why he’s the player he is.”
Schnur showed his fighting spirit earlier in the set with the score tied 2-2. Schnur fought off six break points and held on to win a game that lasted 17 minutes. The first set lasted one hour and 21 minutes.
Schnur broke Gasquet for a 2-1 lead in the second set and after Gasquet broke back to deadlock the set, Schnur had another break to take a 6-5 lead and then held serve for the set.
“The crowd gave me a big lift,” said Schnur. “I don’t think I’ve ever played in an atmosphere like this.”
Schnur, whose only previous match at this level was a 6-3, 6-3 loss to Italian Andreas Seppi at the 2014 Rogers Cup in Toronto, received a wild card for this tournament after he cracked the top 200 in the ATP rankings with a semifinal appearance two weeks ago at the $100,000 Granby Challenger. After starting the season in entry-level Futures tournaments, he’s now in a position to play Challenger events on a regular basis and can get into the qualifying events for the Grand Slams.
In the final match of the night, Peter Polansky rallied from a 2-5 deficit in the first set and defeated fellow Canadian Vasek Pospisil 7-5, 6-2. Polansky won nine consecutive games to take the first set and go ahead 4-0 on the second. Polansky’s reward is a second-round match against No. 2 seed Roger Federer Wednesday afternoon.
Aussie bad boy Nick Kyrgios opened the centre-court action, beating Serbian Viktor Troicki 6-1, 6-2 in a match that lasted only 51 minutes.
Both players have struggled with injuries recently. Hip and shoulder problems forced the 16th-seeded Kyrgios to retire last week at the Citi Open in Washington, D.C., while Troicki’s last match was at Wimbledon, where he retired with back problems in his first-round match.
Kyrgios, who continues to undergo treatment here, said neither player produced his best tennis.
“I didn’t feel like I hit the ball extremely well,” said the 22-yearold. “I didn’t serve great. I thought I served OK. But he played far from his best tennis as well. I’ve seen him play unbelievable tennis. We all have. He’s been struggling physically as well.”
There were two upsets in the first round. American Jared Donaldson won a pair of tiebreakers against 13th-seeded Lucas Pouille of France, while Argentine Juan Martin del Potro, a former U.S. Open champion, weathered a 24ace assault from 14th seed John Isner for a 7-5, 7-5 win.
Mischa Zverev, the older brother of fourth-seeded Sascha Zverev, squeezed into the second round with a 6-4, 6-7, 6-3 win over qualifier Norbert Gombos of Slovakia.
Benoit Paire of France advanced with a 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 win over American Donald Young.