Vernon’s Vasek Pospisil managed an upset against fellow Canadian Milos Raonic to move on to the third round at the US Open Tennis Championships in New York.
Pospisil, ranked 94th in the world this week, came into the Thursday, Sept. 3 match a heavy underdog versus his 18th-ranked compatriot. But after dropping the first set 6 – 7, Pospisil stormed back to take the next three 6-3, 7-6 and 6-3 to reach the third round of the US Open for the first time in his career.
Wow. @VasekPospisil pulls off the upset over compatriot Milos Raonic – 6-7(1), 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-3 in the second round of the #USOpen.
Never fun seeing two Canadians play this early at a Slam, but they put on a show for us. Let’s try semi-finals next year, eh guys? 😉🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/GRtwTAqzH8
— Tennis Canada (@TennisCanada) September 3, 2020
Known for his powerful serve, Raonic belted 29 aces against Pospisil, who had just 20 of his own. However, Pospisil made up the difference in the double-fault category with five to Raonic’s 11.
With the win, Pospisil evens the score with Raonic in tour-level head-to-head matchups with two wins apiece. He’ll be on the court opposite eighth-seeded Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut in third-round action Saturday (Sept. 5).
It’s a Canadian heavy field left standing at the Grand Slam tournament.
On Wednesday Denis Shapovalov defeated South Korea’s Kwon Soon-woo after also dropping the first set. The Richmond Hill, Ont. native faces off against American Taylor Fritz in the Arthur Ash stadium at noon on Friday.
Félix Auger-Aliassime topped former Grand Slam champion Andy Murray in straight sets on Thursday, and will play the winner of a Friday bout between Dan Evans or Corentin Moutet.
On the women’s side, Leylah Annie Fernandez of Laval, Que. lost her second-round meeting with reigning Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin 6-4, 6-3. Fernandez was the only Canadian woman in action.
Defending women’s singles champion, Ontario’s Bianca Andreescu, pulled out of the tournament as she continues to recover from a knee injury suffered in October 2019.
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