RAONIC ADVANCES AT THE U.S. OPEN
Montreal, August 25, 2014 – Five Canadians played on opening day Monday at the U.S. Open and one advanced to the second round. Milos Raonic (Thornhill, ON) moved on while Françoise Abanda (Montreal, QC), Sharon Fichman (Toronto, ON), Vasek Pospisil (Vancouver, BC), and Aleksandra Wozniak were ousted.
Raonic, seeeded fifth, opened his tournament against Japanese qualifier Taro Daniel, who defeated Canadian Peter Polansky in the final round of qualifying. The U.S. Open Series champion easily won the first two sets. Daniel did not go away quietly in the third, but Raonic managed to secure a 6-2, 6-3, 7-6(1) straight sets victory. In the second round, he will face world no. 124 Peter Gojowczyk of Germany.
For his part, Pospisil fell in five sets to Italy’s Simone Bolelli, ranked no. 85 in the world, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. The 24-year-old Canadian lost his serve at 4-3 in the fifth set, and he could not find his way back. Pospisil’s best Grand Slam singles result in 2014 was a third round appearance at the Australian Open. He will look to win his second straight Major doubles title alongside American Jack Sock in New York.
On the women’s side, Fichman and Wozniak started played at 11 a.m. Fichman went up against Rogers Cup presented by National Bank champion Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland. She was playing her first match since undergoing knee surgery in July, and was defeated by the world no. 5 6-1, 6-0 in under an hour. Wozniak was also eliminated in less than an hour 6-2, 6-1 by Kurumi Nara of Japan. Meanwhile, 17-year-old Abanda acquitted herself well in her Grand Slam main draw debut at the U.S. Open, falling 6-3, 7-5 to Germany’s Sabine Lisicki. Abanda led 5-3 in the second, but was unable to serve out the set.
Eugenie Bouchard (Westmount, QC) will play her first round match on Tuesday against Olga Govortsova at approximately 1 p.m. E.T. Frank Dancevic (Niagara Falls, ON) will begin his U.S. Open campaign on Wednesday.
