Raonic has early exit in Cincinnati
Bouchard moves on to second round after winning two tiebreakers
MASON, OHIO— John Isner’s summer surge ended with an opening-round loss to friend and doubles partner Sam Querrey, leaving the top-ranked American with some things to work out before the U.S. Open. And the top two Canadian men didn’t fare any better, with Milos Raonic and Vasek Pospisil also exiting the Western and Southern Open on Tuesday.
Raonic, seeded ninth at the tournament, was defeated 7-6 (4), 6-4 by Spain’s Feliciano Lopez in the first round. Lopez broke Raonic just once in the match, but that was all the Spaniard needed as he saved the only break point he faced.
Both players scored off their serves, with Raonic scoring 15 aces to Lopez’s 12.
Raonic lost his first match for the second consecutive tournament. He fell to Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic in the second round of the Rogers Cup last week in Montreal.
Vancouver’s Pospisil forced a pair of tiebreakers against Grigor Dimitrov, but the 16th-seeded Bulgarian prevailed 7-6 (4), 7-6 (6) in their secondround matchup.
Montreal’s Eugenie Bouchard salvaged some Canadian pride in the evening matches, outlasting Ukraine’s Kateryna Bondarenko 7-6 (2), 7-6 (5). Querrey, mewanwhile, proved steady throughout a 6-3, 7-6 (3) victory over the 11th-seeded Isner, who had won 11 of 13 matches on hard courts this summer, winning in At- lanta and reaching the final in Washington. He was knocked out of the Rogers Cup in the quarter-finals. Isner was worn down from the stretch of matches in those three tournaments.
“I have definitely felt better,” Isner said. “That’s the thing: You put some good weeks together, it can put you in a bit of a deficit the following week. But regardless, it’s disappointing to lose.”
Querrey improved to 4-1 against Isner. “I know he was a little wobbled there in the first set, but besides that I felt I did everything well,” Querrey said. “Didn’t make many mistakes. I was happy with how I played.”
The Americans have teamed up in doubles for at least two tournaments each year since 2008. They had never played each other in the first round of a Masters event.
“It’s not that fun, but you know it happens all the time,” Querrey said. “It’s just part of the game. After in the locker room we talked like nothing happened, so everything is all fine.”
Twelfth-seeded Richard Gasquet beat Australia’s Nick Kyrgios 6-2, 6-1; 15th-seeded Kevin Anderson needed three sets to beat Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer; and 16th-seeded Grigor Dimitrov beat qualifier Vasek Pospisil in a pair of tiebreakers.
On the women’s side, Sloane Stephens got started toward a second championship, beating 10th-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro 6-1, 6-2. She won her first pro title at the Citi Open on Aug. 9 in Washington.
“(You’re) always like searching and trying to find that next great moment,” said the 22-year-old Stephens, a first-round loser at Toronto last week.
“Now, I’m like, ‘I need another Sunday. Come on.’”