If it wasn’t for the warm weather and sun shinning down, the Delray Beach Open tennis tournament in Florida could have been mistaken for a tennis tournament in Canada. The ATP 250 event draws a large number of Canadian spectators, many of who spend time in this part of the world to get away from the cold weather up north. Those fans in attendance, on what the tournament was calling “Canada Day”, were loud and had a lot to celebrate on Tuesday as the two highest ranked Canadians on the ATP World Tour played on Stadium Court.
First up, Milos Raonic playing just his third match in 2018, won for the first time since early October of last year, a span of four months as he took out Japan’s Taro Daniel 6-1, 7-5. Raonic cruised through the opening set in just 27 minutes losing just three points on his serve. The second wasn’t as easy as Daniel, who also hadn’t won a match this year, broke Raonic in the fourth game on route to a 4-1 lead. Raonic fought back, broke Daniel twice, managed to fend off a couple of set points and won the final five games of the match to secure the victory. The 27-year old, now 32nd in the World Rankings, finished with nine aces in the match but had just a 39-percent first serve percentage.
“I got a little bit too passive after the first set,” said Raonic. “I need to be a bit more aggressive, many things I can do better, obviously having not played a lot of matches, I was going in and out a little with my focus and intensity, I have to be a little more consistent and disciplined with that.”
Raonic will play American Steve Johnson in the 2nd Round on Wednesday, a player he has defeated in all three of their previous meetings. All three matches coming in 2014.
The next contest on Stadium Court featured 18-year old phenom Denis Shapovalov against 38-year old veteran Ivo Karlovic. Shapovalov was 4-years old the first time Karlovic played at the Delray Beach Open!
The hard serving Croatian, got off to a good start against the teenager, ranked No 46 in the World. He broke him in the first game of the match and was forcing the youngster into mistakes. “Shapo” as he’s called by the Canadian contingent on hand, fought his way back into the set and managed to break the 6’10 Karlovic not once but twice, the final time giving him the opening set 7-5.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Karlovic match without a tiebreak involved now would it? That’s exactly what happened in the second set with each player holding serve throughout. Shapovalov got out to an early 3-1 lead in the breaker, but it was erased by Karlovic. The Canadian won four of the final five points, giving him enough to move into the 2nd round. After the match Shapovalov was handed a large Canadian flag from a fan which he raised over his head much to the crowds approval. Shapovalov managed to save 11 of 12 break point chances against him. The two players combined for an astounding 18 double faults in the match.
“It’s definitely tough when you are playing a guy with that height, with that level of serve, it’s not easy,” said Shapovalov. “I am just happy I was able to break him when I did and was able to get the “W”. I faced a lot of break points, I wasn’t serving extremely well but I was able to pick my spots when I needed it. Definitely threw in too many double faults today.”
The Richmond Hill, Ontario native will play Jared Donaldson in the 2nd Round on Thursday. Donaldson knocked out the other Canadian in the singles draw, Peter Polansky in straight sets 7-6, 6-1. Polansky did have a set point in the opening set tiebreak but couldn’t convert.
Shapovalov and Polansky are playing together in the Doubles draw as well. The all Canadian duo were given a wild card into the event and won their first round match.
Note:
Karlovic has already played in 15 tiebreaks (8-7) in 2018. He has played in 729 tiebreaks in his career (368-361).
@Sportshorn
