By Canadian Press

Defending champ Rafael Nadal wins lengthy opener at Rogers Cup

Aug 7, 2019 | 2:43 PM

MONTREAL — Top seed and defending champion Rafael Nadal has advanced to the third round of the Rogers Cup.

The Spanish star beat Great Britain’s Daniel Evans 7-6 (6), 6-4 in a match delayed by rain three times on Wednesday at IGA Stadium.

It was Nadal’s tournament opener, with the top eight seeds all getting first-round byes at the US$5.7-million ATP Tour Masters 1000 series event.

After rain delays of six and 30 minutes, Nadal fought off two set points in the first-set tiebreaker before prevailing.

Play again stopped for one hour 56 minutes came with Nadal leading the 53rd-ranked Evans 2-0 in the second set. The match lasted two hours one minute, excluding rain delays.

In the community

Medicine Hat public library screening movie to open discussion on addiction and recovery

6h ago

IN THE COMMUNITY

London Drugs' senior loneliness program back for ninth year

7h ago

LIVE UPDATES

Road construction, detours and traffic in Medicine Hat

15h ago

Nadal, 33, is a four-time Rogers Cup champion.

Earlier Wednesday, No. 14 seed Marin Cilic of Croatia advanced to the third round with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Australia’s John Millman.

Three Canadians were scheduled to play later Wednesday.

Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., was up against No. 2 seed Dominic Thiem.

The 25-year-old Thiem — ranked No. 4 in the world behind Novak Djokovic, Nadal and Roger Federer — was coming off a victory on clay at the Generali Open in his native Austria.

Thiem has won three tournaments in 2019, including two on clay, but hadn’t competed in a hardcourt event since March.

Thiem did, however, defeat Shapovalov 6-2, 6-3 on a hardcourt in Mexico last year in their only other meeting.

Shapovalov snapped a five-match losing streak — and a 2-9 run dating back to March — with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over France’s Pierre-Hugues Herbert in the first round on Monday.

Currently ranked 31st in the world, the 20-year-old was the darling of the 2017 tournament in Montreal when he upset Nadal on the way to making the semifinals.

Hometown favourite Felix Auger-Aliassime and Milos Raonic, the top-ranked Canadian on tour, were scheduled to headline Wednesday’s evening session.

Auger-Aliassime, No. 21 in the world, downed Vancouver’s Vasek Pospisil 6-2, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (3) in a nervy affair Tuesday to advance.

Set to turn 19 on Thursday, Auger-Aliassime fired nine aces, but committed seven double faults to go along with a number of unforced errors.

Raonic, meanwhile, had a much easier time.

The 28-year-old from Thornhill, Ont., ranked 19th on tour, breezed through Monday’s 6-4, 6-4 victory over France’s Lucas Pouille thanks to a booming serve that provided 16 aces.

The Canadian Press