Top
Novak Djokovic Australian Open 2021
Tennis News

Novak eases through in Toronto


Novak Djokovic and Andy Roddick both went through to the last 16 of the Rogers Cup on Tuesday after second round wins at Torontos Rexall Centre.

Read the Tennishead blog from Toronto

Third seed Djokovic enjoyed a successful return to the tour after losing in the second round at Wimbledon as he beat local favourite Frank Dancevic 6-4, 6-4.

Afterwards Djokovic talked about the significance of doing well in the Rogers Cup this week.

“The US Open is the most important event on this surface for everybody but to play well in Masters Series events in Canada and Cincinnati is quite important so you can get a lot of matches and get good preparation for Flushing Meadows.”

Earlier in the day sixth seed Roddick was tested by Frenchman Nicolas Mahut before scraping through 6-1, 6-7, 6-3.

Those were the only second round matches played on day two of the Masters Series event as Tuesdays order of play was dominated by remaining first round contests.

Thirteenth seed Fernando Verdasco and 16th seed Tomas Berdych both advanced.

Spains Verdasco outlasted Brazilian Thomaz Belluci 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 while the Czech Republics Berdych crushed Finn Jarkko Nieminen 6-3, 6-1.

Other winners on Tuesday were Croat Marin Cilic, Russian Dmitry Tursunov, Swedish duo Jonas Bjorkman and Robin Soderling and Igor Andreev, who came through 7-6, 7-6 against Frenchman Gael Monfils.

Swedish lucky loser Thomas Johansson made the most of his place in the main draw when he beat Kazakhstans Andrey Golubev 7-6, 6-1.

The victory earns him a shot at world No.9 and eighth seed Andy Murray on Wednesday.

Murray warmed up for his singles by teaming up with older brother Jamie for a first round doubles victory.

The Scots beat French pair Richard Gasquet and Mahut 7-6, 6-2.

They take on second seeds and recent Wimbledon champions Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic in the second round.


By
0

Tim Farthing, Tennishead Editorial Director & Owner, has been a huge tennis fan his whole life. He's a tennis journalist and entrepreneur as well as playing tennis to a national standard. He also helps manage his local club and volunteers for his local tennis organisation. He's a specialist in content about the administration of professional tennis and tennis coaching for all levels.