Juan Martin Del Potro swiftly completed the first half of his expected Thursday double, while Milos Raonic beat Denis Shapovalov in a tasty matchup of the top two Canadians.
The third seeded Argentine had no trouble knocking off Hyeon Chung 6-2, 6-2 in second round — a match set for Wednesday but moved because of rain — setting up a tasty clash with Nick Kyrgios scheduled for later in the evening.
Chung, the Australian Open semifinalist who has battled injuries since and is still making his way back, barely challenged Del Potro. The Korean lobbed his serve in for most of the first set, paying for it by going down 4-0. He then made seemingly endless errors in the second set, wasting an early break he had secured and losing the final six games.
That was no problem for the world No. 3, playing at that rank for the first week of his career. He hit nine aces — a sharp contrast to Chung’s none and four double faults. Del Potro managed to win half of points on his second serve despite playing much of the match at less than his highest energy level.
Raonic, meanwhile, won his first tour match against his fellow Canadian, 7-6, 6-4, making him the first man to reach the quarterfinals. The elder Canadian hit 12 aces and won all but six points on his first serve while facing just one break point. The 19-year-old Shapovalov was less dominant on his serve, losing his serve twice, including at 4-5 in the second set to secure the match for Raonic.
“I had a bunch of break chances at the beginning of the match that I didn’t make the most of,” Raonic said. “I was getting more into his games than he was into mine. … It was a pretty good match from my end.”
Shapovalov had earned a set point late in the first set tiebreak, but Raonic rolled off three straight points to take the edge.
Also Thursday, Pablo Carreño Busta knocked off Robin Haase 6-4, 6-2 to make the final eight before rain again suspended play. Haase could not produce his fine form from a day earlier, when he beat Alexander Zverev, losing his serve four times.
The Dutchman put just 40 percent of first serves in play; Carreño Busta won more than two-thirds of his second serve points.
