By Canadian Press

Defending champ Rafael Nadal wins lengthy opener at Rogers Cup

Aug 7, 2019 | 2:42 PM

MONTREAL — Top seed and defending champion Rafael Nadal has advanced to the third round of the Rogers Cup.

The Spanish star beat Great Britain’s Daniel Evans 7-6 (6), 6-4 in a match delayed by rain three times on Wednesday at IGA Stadium.

It was Nadal’s tournament opener, with the top eight seeds all getting first-round byes at the US$5.7-million ATP Tour Masters 1000 series event.

After rain delays of six and 30 minutes, Nadal fought off two set points in the first-set tiebreaker before prevailing.

Play again stopped for one hour 56 minutes came with Nadal leading the 53rd-ranked Evans 2-0 in the second set. The match lasted two hours one minute, excluding rain delays.

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Nadal, 33, is a four-time Rogers Cup champion.

Earlier Wednesday, No. 14 seed Marin Cilic of Croatia advanced to the third round with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Australia’s John Millman.

Three Canadians were scheduled to play later Wednesday.

Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., was up against No. 2 seed Dominic Thiem.

The 25-year-old Thiem — ranked No. 4 in the world behind Novak Djokovic, Nadal and Roger Federer — was coming off a victory on clay at the Generali Open in his native Austria.

Thiem has won three tournaments in 2019, including two on clay, but hadn’t competed in a hardcourt event since March.

Thiem did, however, defeat Shapovalov 6-2, 6-3 on a hardcourt in Mexico last year in their only other meeting.

Shapovalov snapped a five-match losing streak — and a 2-9 run dating back to March — with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over France’s Pierre-Hugues Herbert in the first round on Monday.

Currently ranked 31st in the world, the 20-year-old was the darling of the 2017 tournament in Montreal when he upset Nadal on the way to making the semifinals.

Hometown favourite Felix Auger-Aliassime and Milos Raonic, the top-ranked Canadian on tour, were scheduled to headline Wednesday’s evening session.

Auger-Aliassime, No. 21 in the world, downed Vancouver’s Vasek Pospisil 6-2, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (3) in a nervy affair Tuesday to advance.

Set to turn 19 on Thursday, Auger-Aliassime fired nine aces, but committed seven double faults to go along with a number of unforced errors.

Raonic, meanwhile, had a much easier time.

The 28-year-old from Thornhill, Ont., ranked 19th on tour, breezed through Monday’s 6-4, 6-4 victory over France’s Lucas Pouille thanks to a booming serve that provided 16 aces.

The Canadian Press