Toronto: Rafael Nadal, Stan Wawrinka and Frances Tiafoe all progressed on day three of the Rogers Cup in Toronto.
World number one Nadal kicked off his campaign with an emphatic 6-2 6-3 win over BenoitPaire, breaking six times over the one hour 14 minute match. It was not all smooth sailing for the 17-time grand slam champion, who took time out after his epic Wimbledon semi-final with Novak Djokovic, with Paire firing four aces past the Spaniard and broke his opponent’s serve three times in the second set.
Nadal faces comeback hopeful Wawrinka in the third round after he came from behind to battle past Marton Fucsovics in two hours and 43 minutes.
After losing the first set 6-1, wild card Wawrinka took the second 7-6 (7/2) to force a third. The decider itself ended in a 22-game tiebreak, with the former world number three ultimately taking the set 7-6 (12/10).
Tiafoe set up a third-round tie with number five seed Grigor Dimitrov after beating Milos Raonic. The American overcame rain delays and dashed local hopes with a 7-6 (7/4) 4-6 6-1 win over the Canadian.
In other matches on Wednesday Stefanos Tsitsipas beat number seven seed Dominic Thiem 6-3 7-6 (8/6) to set up a third-round clash with Djokovic.
The Wimbledon champion and number nine seed saw off Peter Polanski 7-6 (7/3) 6-4 in the second round.
Second seed Alexander Zverev will play Daniil Medvedev after beating qualifier Bradley Klahn 7-6 (7/5) 6-4.
Qualifier Medvedev defeated Canadian wild card Felix Auger-Aliassime 3-6 6-4 7-6 (9/7).
Number four seed Kevin Anderson plays Ilya Ivashka in the third round after beating Evgeny Donskoy 4-6 6-2 7-6 (7/0).
Ivashka beat fellow qualifier Ryan Harrison 7-6 (7/5) 6-4).
Denis Shapovalov will play Robin Haase after he beat 14th seed Fabio Fognini, while Haase saw off a challenge from lucky loser Mikhail Youzhny.
