Vernon’s Vasek Pospisil has booked a spot in the second round of the U.S. Open.
The 21-year-old cruised past Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-2, 6-1 in his first-round match Tuesday afternoon, making him the lone Canadian singles player left in the tournament.
Canada’s other three singles players – Aleksandra Wozniak (Blainville, Que.), Rebecca Marino (Vancouver) and Frank Dancevic (Niagara Falls) – all fell in their opening matches.
Pospisil, ranked 143rd in the world, took the lead early on and never eased up. With 13 aces and 13 winners, the B.C. boy dispatched his Czech opponent, ranked 65th, in 82 minutes.
Last week, Pospisil won three matches in the qualifying round – including a win over No. 8 seed Grega Zemlja of Slovenia 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(5) in the final round – to reach the first Grand Slam tournament main draw of his career.
Tuesday’s win is the second big result for Pospisil this summer. He beat world No. 24 Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina at the Rogers Cup a few weeks ago.
Pospisil faces 26th-ranked Feliciano Lopez of Spain today. Lopez, a quarterfinalist at Wimbledon, grounded Japan’s Tatsuma Ito in straight sets in his first-round match Tuesday.
