Wawrinka overcomes Kyrgios fast start

First round matches continued at the Rogers Cup in Canada on Day Two.

ATP:

Unfortunately, Roberto Bautista Agut (15) withdrew due to an abdominal injury and was replaced in the draw by lucky loser Mackenzie McDonald, who now became the new opening opponent for Ryan Harrison.

Also withdrawing from the tournament was Hyeon Chung with a back complaint.  His replacement was lucky loser Mirza Basic, who faced Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic in the opening round, which is probably where his luck would end.

Results

First round

• Wildcard Stan Wawrinka defeated Nick Kyrgios (16) 1-6 7-5 7-5.

Kyrgios began brilliantly, his serve and blistering forehand overwhelming the Swiss star to take the first set in just 28 minutes.

However, after that, Wawrinka brought his experience and backhand into play, and left many of the unforced errors behind him.  He served confidently, and the pair appeared destined for a tie break in each of the second and third sets.

But it was the wily Wawrinka who pounced late in both sets - 5-6 on each occasion - to break the Australian serve and ultimately take the match. 

On that performance, Wawrinka should be favoured to meet Rafa Nadal in the third round.

• Sam Querrey defeated Adrian Mannarino 6-2 7-5
• Robin Haase defeated Kei Nishikori 7-5 6-1
• Karen Khachanov defeated Filip Krajinovic 6-3 6-2
• Qualifier Ryan Harrison defeated lucky loser Mackenzie McDonald 6-4 6-2
• Frances Tiafoe defeated Marco Cecchinato 7-6(3) 6-1
• Stefanos Tsitsipas defeated Damir Dzumhur 6-3 7-6(3)
• Novak Djokovic (9) defeated lucky loser Mirza Basic 6-3 7-6(3)
• Fabio Fognini (14) defeated Steve Johnson 6-4 6-4
• 17 year old Canadian wildcard Felix Auger-Aliassime delighted his home crowd by eliminating world number 18 Lucas Pouille 6-4 6-3.

Felix is ranked 133 and a resident of Montreal where ironically the women are contesting the Rogers Cup.

Earlier this year, Felix received a wildcard into his first ATP main draw (Rotterdam) and then he won through qualifying to reach the main draw of the Indian Wells Masters 1000 tournament.  He won his first round against fellow Canadian Vasek Pospisil but fell short next match to another Canadian Milos Raonic.  

Pouille is his biggest scalp yet.

• qualifier Evgeny Donskoy defeated Andrey Rublev 7-6(7) 6-4
• Denis Shapovalov defeated Jérémy Chardy 6-1 6-4

Second round 

• Marin Cilic (6) defeated Borna Coric 6-3 3-6 6-1
• Grigor Dimitrov (5) defeated Fernando Verdasco 4-6 6-2 7-6(5)

WTA:

Garbiñe Muguruza (7) a late withdrawal with her lingering arm injury that also forced her out  of the Silicon Valley Classic last week in San Jose.  Monica Puig was the lucky loser to be swept into the main draw in place of Garbiñe, and to play Anastasija Sevastova in the second round.

Results 

First round

• Sorana Cirstea defeated qualifier Monica Niculescu 3-6 6-4 6-4
• Alison Van Uytvanck defeated qualifier Sofya Zhuk 6-1 6-2
• Johanna Konta defeated Jelena Ostapenko (11) 6-7(6) 6-1 6-2
• Ash Barty (15) defeated Irina-Camelia Begu 6-3 1-6 7-5

Ash almost cost herself the match by wasting break chances.  She had converted 3 of 19 (Irina had converted 4 of 8) before finally delivering on the 20th and advancing to the second round.  

• Qualifier Carla Suárez Navarro defeated Naomi Osaka (16) 7-6(2) 6-2
• Kiki Bertens defeated wildcard Carol Zhao 6-1 6-2
• Aryna Sabalenka defeated qualifier Ana Bogdan 6-4 4-6 6-3
• Maria Sharapova screamed as loud as she could on the way to defeating qualifier Sesil Karatantcheva 6-1 6-2, and received complaints about the noise from neighbouring provinces
• Mihaela Buzarnescu defeated qualifier Qiang Wang 6-2 7-5
• Alizé Cornet defeated Tatjana Maria 4-6 6-1 6-3
• Elise Mertens (14) defeated wildcard Eugenie Bouchard 6-2 6-4
• Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova defeated qualifier Christina McHale 6-3 6-2
• Daria Kasatkina (12) defeated Maria Sakkari 6-4 4-6 6-1
• Wildcard Vika Azarenka defeated Kiki Mladenovic 6-0 6-1
• Wildcard Canadian Francoise Abanda, ranked 191 and aged 21, gave away 11 years seniority to qualifier Kirsten Flipkens but delighted her home crowd when she won 6-3 6-2
• Shuai Zhang defeated qualifier Barbora Krejcikova 7-5 7-5

Second round

• Petra Kvitová (8) defeated Anett Kontaveit 6-3 6-4
• Julia Goerges (10) put her sluggish start to one side and decided to play as she should to defeat qualifier Lucie Safarova 2-6 6-4 6-3
• Caroline Garcia (6) defeated Magdaléna Rybáriková 4-6 6-1 6-3