Nadal Out, Federer and Djokovic Advance at Rogers
Rafael Nadal is out at the Rogers Cup after a shocking 1-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5) defeat in the second round against Croatia's Ivan Dodig on Wednesday night.
With the tiebreaker in the final set tied 5-5, Dodig — ranked 41st in the world — ripped a 135 miles-per-hour ace past Nadal, then finished the upset by hammering a backhand that the second-ranked Spanish star couldn't handle.
"This is the greatest moment of my life," Dodig said.
In a late match following the Nadal loss, American Mardy Fish downed Feliciano Lopez of Spain 6-2, 6-3. Earlier, No. 5 Gael Monfils of France defeated American Alex Bogomolov, 6-2, 7-6 (5).
Both players displayed a variety of shots, transforming what looked like an easy affair for Nadal after the opening set into a thrilling match.
Nadal started out with authority and seemed to have an answer for all of Dodig's shots. But Dodig turned the match around largely with his serve. The Croatian finished with 19 aces.
In the third set, Nadal broke Dodig's serve in the eighth game to take a 5-3 lead and had a chance to serve for the match. But Dodig refused to quit and broke back immediately.
In the tiebreaker, Dodig gave himself a match point with his 19th ace and put the finishing touch with a spectacular crosscourt backhand, right on the line.
"He played very well, very aggressive," Nadal said. "He didn't feel the pressure in the important moments. And at the end of the match, probably I was a little bit unlucky today, no?"
Dodig will face Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic in the next round. Tipsarevic beat Spain's Fernando Verdasco 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3.
Earlier, Roger Federer defeated Vasek Pospisil of Canada 7-5, 6-3. Pospisil, the second-highest-ranked Canadian behind Milos Raonic, earned eight aces against the former No. 1, who was playing his first match since turning 30 on Monday.
The No. 3-ranked Swiss won the Rogers Cup in 2004 and 2006 and was the runner-up in 2007 and 2010.
It was a dream matchup for the 21-year-old Pospisil, who has idolized Federer since childhood. Afterward, Federer said it's not the first time he's heard of a younger opponent's admiration.
"For me it was important to have role models to look up to, such as (Pete) Sampras and (Stefan) Edberg and so forth," Federer said. "Then to be able to also play Pete at Wimbledon was very big in my career, it gave me a huge lift to be able to play in a big stadium against a big player — and I hope it does the same for him."
Play was delayed in Montreal at approximately 6 p.m. because of heavy rainfall.
Earlier in the day, top-seeded Novak Djokovic defeated Russia's Nikolay Davydenko 7-5, 6-1. The 2007 Rogers Cup champion improved his stunning 2011 record to 49-1 overall and 25-0 on hard courts. The Serb's only defeat came at the hands of Federer in the French Open semifinal.
In his first match since climbing to No. 1 in the ATP rankings, the 24-year-old Djokovic battled through a close first set before finishing of the 30th-ranked Davydenko.
Djokovic was happy to finally get back on the court after a four-week layoff, which he partly blamed for falling behind Davydenko 4-1 in the first set. He said switching surfaces from clay to grass to hard court at recent events, and playing an opponent like Davydenko, didn't help either.
He also said it felt good stepping onto a court as the world's top player, particularly in front of the loud, tennis-savvy Montreal crowd. At the same time, he's trying to stay grounded amid all the extra attention that comes with his new status.
"Being No. 1 is a big responsibility, not just on the court but off the court as well," Djokovic said. "(I'm) just trying to handle it in the best possible way, but on the other side trying to keep my life very simple, the way it was before."
In other early singles action, No. 7 Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic ousted Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine 4-6, 6-2, 6-3; No. 8 Nicolas Almagro of Spain defeated Ukraine's Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-2, 7-6 (5); No. 10 Richard Basquet of France beat Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil, 6-1, 6-4; No. 13 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France blasted 15 aces to beat Bernard Tomic of Australia, 6-3, 7-6 (1); No. 14 Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland knocked out qualifier Michael Russell of the United States, 6-3, 6-2; and Ivo Karlovic of Croatia beat Germany's Philipp Petzschner 6-7 (0), 7-6 (2), 7-6 (6).
Raonic is not taking part in the tournament as he recovers from a hip surgery.
Source: Associated Press
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