Vasek Pospisil becomes fifth Canadian into second round of Rogers Cup

TORONTO — Given his season struggles, an easy win might have been just what Vasek Pospisil needed to give himself a boost of confidence.

The Canadian advanced to the second round of the Rogers Cup when he defeated France’s Jeremy Chardy 7-6(3), (ret.) on Tuesday evening on Centre Court at Toronto’s Aviva Centre. After losing the first, Chardy called out a trainer in his opening service game of the second set, trailing 0-30. He retired shortly thereafter with an apparent foot injury.

“You know, a win is a win,” Pospisil said in his press conference afterward. “Obviously played a good first set at the end of the first set there, and obviously unfortunate for me I had to stop, but I will try to take confidence out of that first set.”

With the win, Pospisil joins four other Canadians in the second round, in what has so far been a banner tournament for the host nation. It's the first time since 2013 that Canada has had five players in the second round.

“Seems like we have a lot of young guys coming up right now, so that's exciting. It's good to have a lot of new faces, that's for sure,” he said.

On this mild, breezy evening, Pospisil was making his sixth straight main-draw appearance at the Rogers Cup, a place he’s had success before. Back in 2013, he played countryman Milos Raonic in the semifinals in Montreal. He lost in three sets, however it remains one of his top results on the ATP Tour.

This season, though, is not going so smoothly. Entering the Toronto tournament, Pospisil is mired in an ugly season, having yet to win back-to-back main draw matches in 2016. His record is 6-18 (including the win Tuesday) and earlier this week, his ranking slipped out of the top 100 for the first time in three years. As it stands now, he’s No. 101 and looking to collect some self-belief — and ranking points — this tournament.

“Confidence is very important,” he said. “Obviously I'm trying to get some right now and feel good on the court.”

The match started out shaky for Pospisil, who dropped his opening service game. But he immediately broke back and from there, held his serve routinely as the match headed toward an inevitable tiebreak with neither player able to control their return game much with the windy conditions.

“It was just about the serve today, I think,” he said.

It was Pospisil’s serve that came up big in the tiebreak. He took an early 1-0 lead after hitting an ace out wide, then after cruising to a 5-2 lead, he hit another ace out wide that clocked in at 207-kilometres per hour to give himself set point. He sealed the tiebreak with a forehand winner, punctuated with a fierce fist pump and “c’mon.”

“He has a great serve, so it wasn't easy to get deep in his service games. And I was serving well too. So it felt like apart from that beginning, we were just going into the tiebreak and then I played a good breaker, and that was pretty much it. Just a couple of points in the breaker turned it around. Then, yeah, that was pretty much it.”

Next, Pospisil will face Gael Monfils, who comes into Toronto having just won the title in Washington, D.C. The two have played only once on the ATP Tour, though not since 2013. Monfils won after two tight sets. Their Rogers Cup match will go Wednesday afternoon, on a day that will see all five Canadian men on the court at some point, giving the hometown crowd plenty to cheer for.

“I love playing in front of the home crowd. I feel like it gives me great energy. And, yeah, I can — I just feed off, especially now I'm not in the greatest, you know, period. I don't have that much confidence,” he said. “I think Gael likes to play in front of big crowds, too. But, yeah, I guess I will have the crowd on my side, for sure. I'm looking forward to that.”