TORONTO, August 7, 2018
The strongest field of the 2018 ATP World Tour is in Toronto for the Rogers Cup. Twenty-six of the Top 27 players in the ATP Rankings will play, headlined by four-time champion Novak Djokovic, three-time champion Rafael Nadal and reigning champion Alexander Zverev.
Milos Raonic opened his home campaign with a 6-3, 6-4 win over No.10 seed David Goffin. It was his first match since Wimbledon.
“Overall, it was a very good performance as a first performance here,” Raonic said. “And mentally I was in the right state of mind the whole way through, and I was very disciplined with myself.”
The World No. 29 will be joined in the second round by fellow Canadian Peter Polansky, who beat Australia’s Matthew Ebden 7-6(3), 6-4 and has now reached the second round six times on home soil.
Notes & Notheworthy
- Canadian teens Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov took on Kevin Anderson and Novak Djokovic in what was a packed doubles match on Grandstand. The youngsters fell in straight sets, but the four treated a standing-room-only crowd to a delightful afternoon doubles.
- On Tuesday, three-time Slam champion and wild card recipient Stan Wawrinka meets Nick Kyrgios for a fifth time on tour, the pair having a 2-2 head-to-head leading in. It’s perhaps the most anticipated first -ound match of Rogers Cup this year.
- Four-time winner here Novak Djokovic also plays Tuesday, the 13-time major title holder getting a test in young Korean Hyeon Chung who he lost to at the Australian Open in January.
- Both Shapovalov and Auger-Aliassime are in action in singles Tuesday, as well. Shapovalov meets Jeremy Chardy – who he beat at Wimbledon – while Auger-Aliassime also has another Frenchman in Lucas Pouille.
- Big names like Marin Cilic, Grigor Dimitrov, Kei Nishikori, Fabio Fognini and others are also in action on what is a packed day of play Tuesday in Toronto.
