Rafa Nadal fluffed his lines on his return from a five-week break when the Spanish world No. 2 was stunned 1-6, 7-6, 7-6 by unheralded Croatian Ivan Dodig in his opening match at the Rogers Cup on Wednesday.
Back in action for the first time since losing to Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon final on July 3, Nadal had looked poised for a routine comeback victory after storming through the opening set of the second-round encounter.
However, the 41st ranked Croatian had other ideas and would not be bullied by the muscular Mallorcan, matching Nadal shot-for-shot, before ending the three-hour thriller with a backhand cross-court winner.
Despite an inconsistent performance, Nadal had his chances to seal the contest when he led 5-3 in the deciding set and served for the match, but the two-time champion on Canadian hard courts was unable to put away his stubborn opponent.
It was Nadal’s first opening match defeat in a tournament since Rome 2008.
The loss will be a blow to Nadal’s Flushing Meadows preparation, where the Spaniard will launch the defense his US Open crown later this month.
The late-night shock provided an unexpected twist to the end of a day that had gone largely according to script, with 10 of the 13 seeds in action enjoying a safe passage into the third round.
Djokovic’s reign as world No. 1 got off to a sluggish start as the Serb scrambled to a 7-5, 6-1 win over Russian Nikolay Davydenko, while Roger Federer entered his 30s with a clinical 7-5, 6-3 victory over Canadian Vasek Pospisil.
In near invincible form this season on his way to eight titles while compiling a 49-1 record, Djokovic looked vulnerable after his extended holiday as Davydenko claimed two early breaks to race to a 4-1 lead.
Playing his first competitive match since celebrating his 30th birthday on Monday, Federer looked as fresh as ever as he strolled onto center court impeccably attired in a blue shirt and headband.
It was business as usual for the Swiss maestro once the match started, the former No. 1 beginning his tune-up for the US Open with a gentle workout.
Back in rhythm, Federer quickly put his stamp on the match, breaking his opponent at the first opportunity in the second game on the way to a straightforward victory over the 155th-ranked wildcard.
WOMEN’S SINGLES
AP, TORONTO
Defending champion Caroline Wozniacki lost the last six straight games to Roberta Vinci in a 6-4, 7-5 upset defeat in the second round of the Rogers Cup on Wednesday.
The world No. 1-ranked Wozniacki, who has won a WTA-leading five titles this year, was leading 5-1 in the second set and looking to rally from a set down, but the No. 22-ranked Vinci finished her off with three straight breaks of serve.
In other matches, former No. 1 Serena Williams and fifth-seeded Maria Sharapova both advanced.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier