Canada's Vasek Pospisil was victorious in his opening round match at the Rogers Cup in Montreal, beating Yen-Hsun Lu for the second time in two weeks. The pair played in the second round of the Atlanta Open, with Pospisil prevailing in three sets as the second seed. The 2013 semifinalist received a wildcard into the main draw with his ranking just outside the top thirty at the time (he is now ranked 45th in the world after failing to defend his finalist points in Washington). His opponent came through the qualifying rounds as the fifth seed, and is currently ranked 76th in the world. The straight-set victory today had a scoreline of 6-4 6-3.
Pospisil's wrist was a big focus as the match began, as it has been bothering him since Wimbledon. He pulled out of Canada's Davis Cup tie after hurting it during his fourth round match against Viktor Troicki and said that it did not feel one hundred percent at either of his last two tournaments, Atlanta and the Citi Open in Washington. He said it was feeling good for the Rogers Cup, and it certainly looked it early. He landed 67 percent of his first serves, with three aces and only one double fault. Canada's number two was broken once, but broke his Taiwanese opponent twice to take the set, though the percent was points won between the two players was very even.
The second set saw Pospisil play more strongly, winning 74 percent of first serve points and 62 percent of second serve ones, compared to only 65 and 46 for Lu. The Veron, British Colombia native was also returning well. Though he only converted one break point, he created seven break-point opportunities, winning 42 percent of return points. Four more aces and some pretty shots helped him win the match in one hour and twenty minutes.
Mesmerizing backhand pass by Pospisil
The win was well received by the partisan crowd on the Banque Nationale court at this Canadian Open, and it was frankly a good thing the player's wrist held up. He had enough reason to fist-pump by the end.
He will next face American number one John Isner in a rematch of their quarterfinal match last week at the Citi Open. In that match, Isner was the winner in straight sets (6-4, 7-6(6)). However, the two players have a tied career head-to-head, with wins for Isner in San Jose and Washington and wins for Pospisil in Valencia and Montreal. The Canadian's win in 2013 at this tournament in the round of 64 began his deep run into the semifinals, where he was beaten by countryman Milos Raonic. This year's edition should feature lot's of aces, few breaks of serve, and, more than likely, a tiebreak or three. It is scheduled for Court Central as the night session's first match, not before 6:30pm Eastern Daylight Time.