MONTREAL: Top-seeded Rafael Nadal got off to a rousing start in the ATP Montreal Masters beating Borna Coric of Croatia with ease 6-1, 6-2 to march into the third round.
Nadal, a three-time Rogers Cup winner who is back in the hunt for the No. 1 ranking after winning his 10th French Open title this year, will play Canadian teenager Denis Shapovalov, who downed 2009 US Open champion Juan Martin De Potro 6-3, 7-6 (4) in a second-round match on a gusty Wednesday afternoon.
The 18-year-old Shapovalov became the youngest player to reach the round of 16 of a Master Series tournament since Nadal in 2004 at Miami.
Also making a winning start was second seed Roger Federer who downed Canadian Peter Polansky, 6-2, 6-1 in 53 minutes. Federer, a two-time champion here and ranked third in the world, next faces Spain’s David Ferrer, a 7-6 (7), 3-6, 6-1 winner over 15th-seeded American Jack Sock.
Strong
Polansky, ranked No. 116 in the world after some strong results in challenger events, upset No. 75 Vasek Pospisil of Canada in the first round on Monday.
Sixth seed Milos Raonic, another Canadian, lost 6-4, 6-4 to Frenchman Adrian Mannarino in his opening match while playing through a left wrist injury that flared up this week.
In other results, third-seeded Dominic Thiem of Austria was upset 6-4, 6-7 (7), 7-5 by Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman, and fifth-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan, a finalist last year, was ousted 6-7 (4), 7-6 (7), 7-5 by Gael Monfils. It was the Frenchman’s first win in four meetings with Nishikori.
Seventh-seeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov topped German Mischa Zverev 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. No. 12 Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain downed American Ryan Harrison 7-5, 6-2, and Robin Haase of the Netherlands defeated lucky loser Ernesto Escobedo 6-4, 6-1.