Toronto: Novak Djokovic and Rafa Nadal scripted easy victories Wednesday at the Toronto Masters tennis tournament here. Djokovic sent Peter Polansky of Canada to a 6-3, 6-4 defeat to book his place in the third round, Nadal blew away patchy Frenchman Benoit Paire 6-2, 6-3 to begin his quest for a fourth title here.
Djokovic already a four-time champion here insisted he is ‘comfortable’ with the controversial ‘shot clock’ innovation which is being used to stop players from unnecessarily wasting time between points.
“I actually feel like there is more time now than before because the shot clock starts counting down once the chair umpire calls the score,” Djokovic said. “Sometimes it takes several seconds before the chair umpire calls the score, so I am pretty comfortable with it.”
Djokovic, the winner of 30 career Masters titles, will next face rising Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, who beat seventh seed Dominic Thiem 6-3, 7-6(8/6).
Meanwhile World No.1 Nadal was untouchable as he schooled Paire for the fourth time without a loss, taking 74 minutes as he broke six times. Nadal has won here in 2005, 2008 and 2013.
“I was not at my 100 per cent today (Wednesday),” Nadal said. “It’s true that I did good work here the last five days, but at the same time it’s true that I didn’t work very hard at home. So the first match is an important victory for me, for my confidence.”
The 32-year-old Nadal will next face Stan Wawrinka, who staged another fightback in three sets, beating Marton Fucsovics 1-6, 7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (12/10). Defending champion Alexander Zverev also advanced easily beating Bradley Klahn 6-4, 6-4.
Two generations of local players split the difference with Milos Raonic, 27, heading out while teenaged gun Denis Shapovalov moved on. American Frances Tiafoe beat Raonic 7-6 (7/4), 4-6, 6-1 in a match hit by a weather interruption of more than two-and-a-half hours. Teenaged prodigy Shapovalov eliminated Italian 14th seed Fabio Fognini winner last weekend in Los Cabos, 6-3, 7-5.
In other played on the day Wimbledon semifinalist John Isner defeated Pierre-Hugues Herbert of France 7-6 (7/3), 6-2. However, third seed Juan Martin del Potro was forced to withdraw prior to his opening match due to a left wrist injury.
Support for new format
Toronto: Reigning Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic said Wednesday he is in favour of a bid to turn the Davis Cup tournament into a season-ending Grand Slam-level showdown, as it would ease scheduling woes for the players. “I think that format needs to be changed. And I’m all in favour of that,” Djokovic said. “You play one year, and then the next year you don’t play. It’s just the scheduling of this kind of format so far has been pretty bad.”