There are three Canadian men in the third round of a tennis major for the first time ever. Remarkably, Canada’s best singles tennis player of all-time is not among them. That is because Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ontario was beaten by fellow Canadian Vasek Pospisil of Vernon, British Columbia 6-7, 6-3, 7-6, 6-3 in the second round of the 2020 United States Open from Flushing Meadows, New York on Thursday.
Pospisil will be joined by Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal, Quebec, and Denis Shapovalov of Toronto, Ontario. Auger-Aliassime beat three-time grand slam champion Andy Murray of Great Britain 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 with rather ease on Thursday. Murray, who is coming of hip surgery, did not seem to be moving quite swiftly on the court. He also seemed exhausted after his five-set win over Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan on Tuesday.
Shapovalov’s round two win came on Wednesday. There he beat Soon-woo Kwon of South Korea, 6-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2.
In round three, Shapovalov, the 12th seed, will play Taylor Fritz, the 19th-ranked American on Friday. Pospisil’s next opponent will be Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut, the eighth seed, and reigning Wimbledon semifinalist, who reached the semifinals of the Western and Southern Open last week. Meanwhile, Auger-Aliassime, the 15th seed, will play either Daniel Evans of Great Britain or Corentin Moutet of France in round three.
