Mercurial Kyrgios has off night at Rogers Cup
Britain’s Edmund prepared for antics, manages 15 aces en route to victory
When Nick Kyrgios is on his game, he’s difficult to beat, as he proved last week when the he won the Citi Open in Washington.
When Kyrgios is not on his game, you get a performance like the one Tuesday night, when he dropped a 6-3, 6-4 decision to Britain’s Kyle Edmund in the first round of the Rogers Cup Canadian Open men’s tennis championships.
Edmund played a solid match. He had 15 aces and never faced a break point, but his greatest strength was ignoring Kyrgios’s antics, which included some interaction with the crowd and what appeared to be a problem with towels.
When asked how he overcame the distractions that come with playing against Kyrgios, Edmund replied: “I don’t know how to answer that. He’s unique and you have to be prepared for anything. He has a reputation for serving underhand, so I was looking for it. He bluffed me one time, but I was ready when he didn’t do it.”
Kyrgios said he was a bit tired after a week that included wins over top-10 players Stefanos Tsitsipas and Daniil Medvedev on the weekend, but said he was looking forward to playing here this week and gave credit to Edmund.
“I mean, I’m not taking away anything from Kyle tonight,” Kyrgios said. “He played well. He served well. He didn’t really give me any rhythm into the match at all. He used his forehand. I just got beaten by a better player today. He left Washington only a couple days ago, as well. It was tough for him. But he was just too good today.” Doubling up: Denis Shapovalov has a date with second-seeded Dominic Thiem on centre court Wednesday afternoon and the 20-year-old from Richmond Hill, Ont., is also alive in the doubles.
Shapovalov and Rohan Bopanna, a 39-year-old doubles specialist from India, upset the fourth-seeded French team of Nicolas Mahut and Édouard Roger-Vasselin 4-6, 6-1, 10-6 in a first-round match Tuesday.
The all-Canadian team of Peter Polansky and Brayden Schnur shook off disappointing results in singles to win their opening doubles match. They defeated Marcus Daniell of New Zealand and Serb Laslo Djere 6-4, 7-6 (3).
Polansky gave the centre court crowd some thrills Monday when he took 16th-seeded Gaël Monfils to a third set before losing 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-3 in two hours and 11 minutes.
The 31-year-old Polansky was making his 14th appearance at the Rogers Cup, but he hasn’t spent as much time at the ATP level as the 32-year-old Monfils and experience was the difference.
Polansky was up a break at 3-1 in the third set, but Monfils won the next five games.
“He changed the way he was playing,” Polansky said.
“He started playing a more conservative game instead of going for big shots and he didn’t make any mistakes.”
Isner sports Canadiens colours: When John Isner warms up for his second-round match against Cristian Garin of Chile, he’ll be wearing a Canadiens sweater even though he wasn’t happy with one of Marc Bergevin’s off-season moves.
“I wasn’t happy with the Canadiens trying to get Sebastian Aho,” said Isner, who has been a Carolina Hurricanes fan since the team relocated from Hartford to Carolina in 1997. There was no arena in Raleigh at the time and the team played in his hometown of Greensboro for two seasons before moving to Raleigh.
“I didn’t know anything about hockey, but when I started watching it I was hooked,” Isner said.
Isner, who lives in Dallas when he’s not on the tour, subscribes to the NHL Centre Ice package, is involved in a fantasy league and counts Ales Hemsky and Jordie Benn among his friends. This week, he’s hanging out with Antoine Roussel, a former Dallas player who is now with the Vancouver Canucks. Earlier this season, he took a break from the Delray Open to drop the puck prior to a Florida Panthers game. Wozniak a Hall of Famer: Alexandra Wozniak was inducted into the Rogers Cup Hall of Fame in a ceremony before the evening session Tuesday.
The 31-year-old Montrealer was one of Canada’s top players for nearly a decade before injuries forced her to retire last December.
Wozniak won the Bank of the West title at Stanford in 2008, defeating Serena Williams in the semifinal. She also reached the final of two other WTA events — the Morocco Open and the Amelia Island Championships in South Carolina. She reached a career-high of No. 21 and earned more than $2 million. She was the cornerstone of Canada’s Fed Cup team, appearing in a Canadian record 36 ties. She had a 40-12 record in Fed Cup play with a record 32 singles wins.
He’s unique and you have to be prepared for anything.