Nestor and Pospisil advance to quarterfinals in Toronto
Team Canada’s Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil – set to partner in the upcoming Olympic men’s doubles tournament – are moving on at the Rogers Cup.
The Canadians advanced to the quarterfinals after Australia’s Nick Krygios and the United States’ Jack Sock retired in the second set of Thursday’s match.
RELATED: Nestor/Pospisil preparing for Rio
Daniel Nestor serves while his partner, Vasek Pospisil, awaits a return against Nick Kyrgios and Jack Sock at the Rogers Cup in Toronto on July 28, 2016. (Thomas Skrlj/COC)
Nestor and Pospisil won the first set in a tie-break and were down 1-0 in the second when the rain started to come down. Shortly after play was suspended, Kyrgios and Sock retired.
The two Canadians are playing with each other this week in preparation of the Olympic Games, where they will play doubles. Pospisil will also represent Canada in singles at Rio 2016.
Nestor and Pospisil, seeded sixth, advance to Friday’s quarterfinals where they will face Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek. The unseeded Czech pair are coming off a 6-1, 6-4 victory over fourth seeded Rohan Bopanna and Jean-Julien Rojer.
RELATED: Tennis at the Olympic Games
Milos Raonic returns a ball against Jared Donaldson at the Rogers Cup in Toronto on July 28, 2016. (Thomas Skrlj/COC)
Milos Raonic was also in action on Thursday in Toronto – and wasted little time defeating American Jared Donaldson in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3. Raonic, the fourth seeded singles player at the tournament, has cruised so far, beating Yen-Hsun Lu 6-3, 6-3 on Wednesday.
“I’m taking care of my own things, creating some opportunities,” said Raonic. “And, you know, I’m going for the shots.”
Raonic will face a tough test on Friday, going against 10th seeded Gael Monfils of France.
RELATED: Bouchard advances in Montreal
Eugenie Bouchard of Canada returns to Kristina Kucova of Slovakia during third round of play at the Rogers Cup tennis tournament on Thursday July 28, 2016 in Montreal. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson
In Montreal, Eugenie Bouchard’s Rogers Cup run came to an end in the third round, falling to Slovakia’s Kristina Kucova 6-3, 4-6, 3-6.
Bouchard, who will represent Canada in both singles and doubles play at Rio 2016, reached the third round of the tournament following strong upset wins over Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic on Tuesday and Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova on Wednesday.
Earlier in the day in Toronto, the Canadian duo of Philip Bester and Adil Shamasdin were defeated 6-4, 7-6 (4) by South Africa’s Raven Klaasen and American Rajeev Ram in men’s doubles. The two wowed the Toronto crowd in their first round match, defeating world’s top singles player Novak Djokovic and partner Nenad Zimonjic – both of Serbia.
These are the final tournaments for those Team Canada tennis players heading to Brazil for the Olympic Games.
