Djokovic Outlasts Monfils in Toronto; Murray Steamrolls Aussie Kyrgios
World number one Novak Djokovic showed some rust in his Rogers Cup opener as he edged France’s Gael Monfils 6-2, 6-7(4), 7-6(2) to move into the third-round in Toronto. Playing in his first match since winning the Wimbledon crown, Djokovic needed 2 hours and 41 minutes to get past the 22nd ranked Monfils.
The Serb seemed to be in control early on as he raced out to a 6-2 opening set victory. Monfils broke back in the second set and stole the frame in a tiebreaker to force the match into a deciding third-set.
Monfils picked up a couple of break points early and jumped ahead 3-1 in the third frame and flipping the pressure onto the top-seeded Djokovic. The two would exchange breaks and holds, and Monfils was actually two points away from completing the upset as he led 6-5 at 30/30.
But like all the great ones do, Djokovic’s play only got better when his back was against the wall and he rattled off nine of the next 11 points to come back and win the deciding set in a tiebreaker.
“In a way it was fun, of course, and entertaining to be part of this match,” said Djokovic. “I enjoyed it. I tried to take the positives from this long match, and those are obviously the fact that I stayed over two-and-a-half hours on the court and I have not played an official hard court match since the Miami final. That helps, obviously, to play a little bit more, to feel the court, to feel the conditions.”
He was playing a hard court match for the first time since mid-March. He indicated that he was pleased that his conditioning and body held out for the nearly three hour long match. The tournament’s top seed now seeks a spot in the quarterfinals when he meets another Frenchman on Thursday, 13th-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who defeated Jeremy Chardy on Wednesday.
Andy Murray rolled into the third-round as well on Wednesday, disposing of the Australian rising star Nick Kyrgios 6-2, 6-2. Murray played mistake-free tennis, converting four of five break points to neutralize the powerful serve of Kyrgios.
“I thought I did most things like pretty solid,” said Murray, who was playing in his first match since a quarterfinal loss at Wimbledon. “I didn’t make too many errors. I moved well. High first serve percentage. It was a solid match for a first match back after sort of four and half, five weeks. I was happy.”
Murray takes on 12th-seeded Richard Gasquet on Thursday after Gasquet won the final two sets of his match Wednesday to squeak by Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic.
There are no Americans left in the field after four suffered second-round losses on Wednesday. Citi Open champion Milos Raonic rallied from a set down to knock off Jack Sock 4-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(4). Sock got an early break point in the opening set which allowed him to take the first frame, but failed to pick up a single break point in five chances over the next two sets which allowed Raonic’s powerful serve to take its course.
Despite the loss, Sock has been pleased with his recent performance and will look to build on it going forward.
“I have a fairly decent amount of confidence right now in general just from the summer,” said Sock. “[It] feels like everything is falling in place for me right now. I’m really looking forward to the rest of the year and the rest of the summer. Hopefully I can just keep going.”
Donald Young also blew a one set lead as seventh-seeded Grigor Dimitrov came back to win 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 over the 50th ranked American. Michael Russell and Tim Smyczek were unable to advance into the third-round, losing to David Ferrer and Feliciano Lopez, respectively.
Up to this point, the Rogers Cup has been all chalk for the most part. The top eight seeds, including second-seeded Roger Federer and third-seeded Stan Wawrinka who were off on Wednesday, are all still playing in the third-round.
