Taiwanese No. 1 Lu Yen-hsun on Wednesday crashed out of the second round of the Rogers Cup in Toronto, while world No. 1 Novak Djokovic made a winning return in his first match back since a shock third-round defeat at Wimbledon, defeating Gilles Muller in straight sets.
World No. 70 Lu was defeated 6-3, 6-3 by fourth seed Milos Raonic in 65 minutes in the final warm-up tournament before the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
Canadian world No. 7 Raonic saved the only break point he faced and converted three of seven, winning 63 of the 103 points contested to advance to a third-round match against qualifier Jared Donaldson of the US.
Photo: Dan Hamilton, USA TODAY
“I didn’t expect to play as well as I did,” Raonic told the Toronto Sun. “That was sort of hopeful. I knew that a lot of things were going to come down to me, how I dealt with [the windy and humid weather conditions].”
The world No. 1 took his first step toward a possible 30th career Masters 1000 title as he beat Muller 7-5, 7-6 (7/3) in just under two hours.
“It’s tough playing the first hard-court match since March,” Djokovic said. “It was hot and that made the ball move very fast. It was hard to control, it was not easy to play, but I managed to stay tough. I was disappointed to lose serve twice in the second set when I was up a break, but I was just glad to close this out in straight sets.”
Photo: AP
Djokovic takes a formidable record to Canada, winning 18 of 21 matches at the event, which alternates between Toronto and Montreal each year. He has advanced to the quarter-finals or better in eight of nine years in Canada.
Djokovic stands 47-4 for the season, with six titles. He was beaten a year ago in the Rogers Cup final by Andy Murray.
Third seed Kei Nishikori joined Djokovic, defeating Dennis Novikov 6-4, 7-5.
“I knew I was going to get up-and-downs, because I haven’t played matches [for a] long time,” Nishikori said. “I didn’t practice much, but I played good tennis.”
Sixth seed Dominic Thiem was heading back to Austria for scans on a troublesome hip after quitting after just 20 minutes into his match against Kevin Anderson. The score was 4-1 when play stopped.
Belgian seventh seed David Goffin advanced when Sam Querrey quit with back pain while trailing 6-4, 2-1.
Ryan Harrison knocked out ninth-seeded fellow American John Isner 7-6 (7/3), 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, while Australian 12th seed Bernard Tomic ousted Canadian Steven Diez 6-3, 7-6 (7/4).
French 13th seed Lucas Pouille lost to Rajeev Ram 6-4, 7-6 (7/5).
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