Milos Raonic easily dispatches Goffin at Rogers Cup
Canadian pair Shapovalov, Auger-Aliassime fall in doubles action
Canada's Milos Raonic topped David Goffin of Belgium 6-3, 6-4 in singles after heavy rain delayed play for nearly three hours at the Rogers Cup on Monday.
No. 30 Raonic got off to a hot start, breaking his Belgian opponent for a 4-1 lead in the first set.
The former World No. 3, who's battled numerous injuries over the past two seasons, used his powerful serve to his advantage. He fired 13 aces to Goffin's two and won 100 per cent of his first-service points.
"I think I can still serve much better, I don't think I served particularly well," Raonic said. "So I'll take the time to work on some things tomorrow but overall it was a good performance. Mentally I was in the right state of mind the whole way through and I was very disciplined with myself."
Click on the video player below to see Raonic upset 10th-seeded Goffin:
Raonic, of Thornhill, Ont., will play the winner of a match between American Frances Tiafoe and Italy's Marco Cecchinato.
Off to a good start in Toronto. Thanks for the great support tonight! 🇨🇦💪 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/rogerscup?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#rogerscup</a> <a href="https://t.co/5KmtnJ6jEk">pic.twitter.com/5KmtnJ6jEk</a>
—@milosraonicShapovalov falls in doubles
Novak Djokovic and Kevin Anderson defeated Canadian teens Denis Shapovalov and Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-3, 6-2 in first-round doubles action.
Rainfall moved into the area of the York University campus just before 3 p.m. ET, interrupting three matches and causing a location change from centre court to the grand stand for the Canadians' doubles match against the 2018 Wimbledon champ and runner-up.
Shapovalov, of Richmond Hill, Ont., and Auger-Aliassime of Montreal — doubles partners on the junior circuit years ago and wild-card entries for their hometown tournament — started the match strong before Djokovic and Anderson took control.
"Our game was there, we didn't feel intimidated at all," said the 19-year-old Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont.
"Just to have a chance to play with these guys is already good," added Auger-Aliassime, a Montreal native who won't turn 18 until later this week.
They broke Anderson's serve for a 2-0 lead, to the delight of a tightly packed grand stand crowd. But the Wimbledon finalists team — nicknamed Djokerson thanks to a Twitter poll conducted by Djokovic earlier in the day — broke back to tie the match 2-2, and again to go up 5-3. Both breaks were on Auger-Aliassime serves.
Anderson and Djokovic won five straight games, going up two breaks, to win the second set.
Shapovalov and Auger-Aliassime appeared to be having fun throughout their match, with Shapovalov flashing his teammate a smile after they accidentally bumped into each other while chasing a deep shot in the first set.
The Canadians double-faulted three times and won just 50 per cent of their service games.
Shapovalov, at No. 26, is the top Canadian in the men's singles draw. He was No. 143 before last year's Rogers Cup.
The 19-year-old plays Jeremy Chardy of France Tuesday.
"Yeah, I struggled a little bit with my percentage at the start of the first set," Auger-Aliassime said. "And I'm playing against the greatest returner in the game so obviously he's going to put some returns in.
"I think maybe we weren't as efficient at the net to close out the points but that's it."
Auger-Aliassime is No. 134. He will make his Rogers Cup main draw debut Tuesday against Lucas Pouille of France.
Polansky moves on
Russian qualifier Daniil Medvedev upset 13th-seeded Jack Sock 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in one of the three rain-interrupted afternoon matches. American Bradley Klahn topped Spain's David Ferrer 7-6, 6-4 and Pierre-Hughes Herbert of France beat Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Earlier Monday, Thornhill, Ont., native Peter Polansky, a wild-card entry playing in the morning draw, defeated Matthew Ebden of Australia 7-6 (3), 6-4. He will play the winner of a match between Djokovic and Hyeon Chung of South Korea in the second round. Vancouver's Vasek Pospisil fell to Borna Coric of Croatia 6-4, 6-3 the late match on centre court.
The 30-year-old Polansky, who is ranked No. 121 in the world, has never advanced past the second round of the Rogers Cup.
Click on the video players below to see Polansky advance and Pospisil drop his match:
He squeaked out a victory against his 52nd-ranked opponent in the first set by winning the tiebreak 7-3.
"It was actually really big," Polansky said of the tiebreak win. "He was serving great and I wasn't expecting to go up by so much early on."
Polansky also took a close second set, which included a seventh game with seven deuces before Polansky held serve.
"I think if I got broken there, the momentum would have turned in his favour quite," Polansky said.
Polansky finished the match with six aces Ebden's 12. But Polansky won 83 per cent of his first-serve points and 62 per cent off his second serve.
In other men's first-round action, Benoit Paire of France downed Jared Donaldson 6-3, 6-4 and Ilya Ivashka of Belarus defeated Yuichi Sugita of Japan 6-2, 6-3.