There are five Canadians in the second round of the Australian Open. On Monday in Melbourne, Denis Shapovalov of Toronto, Ontario, Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ontario, and Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal, Quebec won their opening round match. While on the women’s side, Rebecca Marino of Vancouver, British Columbia, and Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ontario, advanced.
Shapovalov, the 11th seed, won a five-set marathon over 19-year-old Italian Jannik Sinner, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4. Shapovalov rebounded extremely nicely after a slow start and beat one of tennis’s rising stars. When Sinner defeated Vasek Pospisil of Vernon, British Columbia in the final of the Sofia Open in Bulgaria, he became the youngest player on the ATP Tour to win a title since 2008. Shapovalov will now play Australian Bernard Tomic.
Raonic, the 14th seed, beat Argentinian Federico Coria with complete ease. He won 6-3, 6-3, 6-2. Raonic broke Coria five times, and had 17 aces, compared to Coria’s two. Raonic will now play Corentin Moutet of France in round two.
Auger-Alissime, the 20th seed, beat Cedrik-Marcel Stebe of Germany, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2. Auger-Aliassime had seven aces, compared to Stebe’s two, and broke Stebe six times. Like Shapovalov, Auger-Aliassime also has an Australian in the second round, as his opponent is James Duckworth.
Marino won her first grand slam match since 2011, after a decade-long battle of depression suffered from online bullying. She defeated Kim Birrell of Australia 6-0, 7-6. Marino will next play the 19th seed, Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic in round two. Voundrousova reached the final of the 2019 French Open before losing to world number one Ashleigh Barty of Australia.
Andreescu, the eighth seed in the women’s draw, defeated Mihaela Buzarnescu of Romania, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3. This was Andreescu’s first match since the 2019 WTA Finals. Andreescu will next play Su-wei Hsieh of Taiwan, the women’s world number one in doubles.
