Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal start Montreal Masters with easy wins
Thursday 10 August 2017 10:20, UK
Roger Federer eased back into action at the Montreal Masters while Rafael Nadal also began his quest for a return to the world no 1 ranking with a routine victory.
After third seed Dominic Thiem was shocked on Tuesday night, it was a different matter in the men's event at the Rogers Cup where fourth seed Alexander Zverev joined the top two seeds in safely advancing to the last 16.
With Andy Murray absent in Canada, and confirming that he will miss the Cincinnati Masters, Nadal is likely to claim the top spot for the first time since 2014 over the next few weeks - and he could do that in Montreal if he reaches the semi-final.
In his first match since Wimbledon, top seed Nadal dropped just three games against 20-year-old Borna Coric, registering a 6-1 6-2 victory in just 71 minutes to advance to a third-round meeting with home favourite Denis Shapovalov, who shocked 16th seed Juan Martin Del Potro.
Nadal's path eased somewhat with two seeds from his section crashing out. Ninth seed David Goffin was beaten in straight sets by Korea's rising star Hyeon Chung and he will face Adrian Mannarino, who ended the hopes of Canada's top player Milos Raonic.
Alexander Zverev, who won his fourth tour title in Washington on Sunday, remained on course for a semi-final showdown with Nadal after a battling 6-4 4-6 7-6 victory in a high-quality encounter with France's Richard Gasquet. He will now play Nick Kyrgios, who beat Paolo Lorenzi.
Like Nadal, 19-time Grand Slam champion Federer has designs on the number one ranking but may have to wait a little longer.
The Swiss great is also back in action for the first time since he claimed an eighth Wimbledon title and he had little trouble in brushing aside Canada's world number 116 Peter Polansky 6-2 6-1 in less than an hour.
However, there were more seeded casualties as eighth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga lost to Wimbledon semi-finalist Sam Querrey in three sets and he will now face Kevin Anderson, who ended the hopes of 11th seed Pablo Carreno Busta.
Gael Monfils is unseeded having dropped down the world rankings but that did not stop him ending the hopes of fifth seed Kei Nishikori, but only after saving four match points on his way to a 6-7 7-5 7-5 success.
Follow the action on Sky Sports Action from 5.30pm and Sky Sports Main Event from 11pm on Thursday while we will have the Masters 1000 series in Montreal covered via our website skysports.com/tennis
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