Reportedly, World no. 1 Novak Djokovic returned to competition following a post-Wimbledon break on Tuesday. He marched into the third round of the ATP Montreal Masters.
The Serb comfortably overpowered Florian Mayer by 6-2, 6-1. Subsequently, he advanced to dance with a tennis ball mascot with choreography which he and friends worked out last month during holiday in Croatia. On the other hand, Mayer double-faulted to lose the 29-minute opening set and could not make any impression on the top seed.
Djokovic, who lost the Wimbledon final to Andy Murray rued that after a month he did not know what to expect. He was extra careful against a tough rival. He is keeping his mind-set of step-by-step, one match at a time. He needed extra commitment from the beginning and everything went well on court. He is looking forward going into the US Open even if he is defending a lot of points and it is not the first time for that.
Djokovic, who was champion in 2007, 2011, 2012, won his 11th straight match in Canada and extended his career lead over Mayer to 5-0. Currently, he stands at 40-6 on the season as he proceeds for his 15th career Masters 1000 trophy.
Remarkably, it was an historic day for locals, with four first-round victories insuring a record-equaling five Canadians in the 2nd round. The last time it happened in 1972, when few had byes.
It cannot be ignored that Vasek Pospisil produced the most dramatic victory as he powered to a 5-7, 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/4) win over John Isner. With Isner's defeat, the US will not have any man in the apex 20 for the first time since the ATP rankings commenced 40 years ago. The number 71 Pospisil who claimed a Challenger title at the weekend in Vancouver, led the home charge, which included wins for wild cards Filip Peliwo and Frank Dancevic too. Subsequently, they joined Jesse Levine, who advanced on Monday.
Canadian no.1 and the 13th seed Milos Raonic who has been struggling, needed to work hard to breeze past Jeremy Chardy by 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 of France. Pospisil's win in two and a half hours, gave him a 2-1 career lead over Isner, who is a semi-finalist in this tournament last year.
Pospisil claimed that this is such a victory, he really believed in himself today. He added that it was an extremely tough match, especially with his massive serve. But he had confidence from Vancouver.
In another Canadian matches, 2012 double junior Grand Slam winner Peliwo won his Montreal senior debut saving a match point in the second set. He advanced as Finn Jarkko Nieminen retired with hamstring trouble while trailing at 3-6, 7-5, 3-1. In fact, Dancevic also had to rally for a 5-7, 7-6 (8/6), 6-1 victory over Taiwan's Lu Yen-hsun.
Thirteenth seed Fabio Fognini of Italy, who is the winner of two titles and 13 of 14 post-Wimbledon matches on clay, rejoiced a winning transition to hardcourts with a 1-6, 6-1, 6-1 victory over Marcos Baghdatis. On the other side, Nikolay Davydenko knocked out 14th seed Gilles Simon by 2-6, 6-1, 6-1.
Polish 15th seed and Wimbledon semi-finalist Jerzy Janowicz came back too to overcome Julien Benneteau of France by 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.
