-Washington DC
The weather proved to be kind to the Citi Open on Wednesday. Thunderstorms and heavy rains were expected in the Washington area in the afternoon. Luckily though, there were just a few drops of rain throughout the day and all the matches went on as scheduled.
No real surprises on the day in Second Round action including the top two Canadian singles players moving on.
No. 8 seed Milos Raonic won his Second Round match in straight sets 6-1, 6-4 over Tim Smyczek. Raonic cruised in the opening set losing just 12 points in total winning it in just 25 minutes. The World No. 20 stumbled slightly in the second set getting broken by the qualifier in the sixth game to go down 4-2. But Raonic won the final four games to close out the match in just 67 minutes.
He will face Lucky Loser Peter Gojowczyk in the next round. The 30-year old German knocked out last week’s Atlanta Open champion and last year’s Washington Finalist Alex de Minaur in straight sets.
The other Canadian remaining in the Men’s draw, ninth seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime fought off 22 aces from 6’11 Reilly Opelka and came away with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 win. The 18-year old won 42 of 47 points on his first serve. It was his first match since losing in the Third Round at Wimbledon. A big task awaits him in the next round. Sixth seed Marin Cilic will be his opponent. They have never faced each other before.
Nick Kyrgios also moved on winning his second match of the tournament. He took out 11th seed Gilles Simon 6-4 7-6. Of course, as with most Kyrgios matches, there were some antics throughout.
The 25-year old was struggling with his serve early on in the second set and after being broken took his frustrations out on his racquet. He destroyed his hardware smashing it to the ground three times before handing it to a young child in the crowd.
He also got into it with chair umpire Fergus Murphy on a couple of occasions. The first after he had to use a challenge to overturn an incorrect service call by the linesperson. Kyrgios upset that Murphy didn’t overrule the call himself.
The second incident came during match point with Kyrgios up 6-4 in the tiebreak. He appeared to challenge a second serve that was called out and Murphy did not see him call for the challenge. An incensed Kyrgios began yelling at Murphy for nearly a minute before Simon’s forehand into the net gave the match to the Australian. Kyrgios refused to shake Murphy’s hand after the win and he continued to bark at well past the end of the match.
You may remember Kyrgios got into it with Murphy during the First Round at Queen’s last month. He was fined $17,500 for his actions including ball abuse and swearing at the Irishman.
Notes:
Kyrgios fired a 140 mph second serve on break point in the opening set, a point he eventually lost. He had a 142 mph first serve ace before that.
Raonic won the title in Washington in 2014 defeating fellow Canadian Vasek Pospisil in the Final
Felix Auger-Aliassime has won 29 matches and has played in three finals in his first full year on the ATP Tour. He is 0-3 in those championship matches (Stuttgart, Lyon, Rio)