Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka were double partners at last week’s ATP Tour stop in Toronto. They made it to the second round before being knocked out of the draw in straight sets by Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic, who are considered to be one of the premier doubles teams in world.

While that loss was expected, watching the pair be dismissed in the third round of the Singles Draw came completely out of left field. With that being the case, the No. 1 and No. 4 players in the world have something to prove this week and both took the first step in accomplishing exactly that on Tuesday afternoon/evening at the Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Wawrinka had little trouble in dismissing German qualifier Benjamin Becker, 6-3 and 7-6(5), whereas Djokovic had to dig deep and do a little bit of work to sneak past Gilles Simone in a tough three setter against the talented Frenchman, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. The talented Serb was nowhere near his best but with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga being upset in the first round by Mikhail Youzhny, he should have plenty of time to find his game before having to likely take on No. 6 seed David Ferrer in the quarterfinals.

Stan the Man may not be so lucky, as he could very well face Marin Cilic in round number three, who had no trouble whatsoever with Feliciano Lopez in the opening round and looked extremely good in pushing Roger Federer to three sets at the Rogers Cup.

The remaining fourteen second round matches are set to go today in Cincinnati, with a pair of Canadians squarely in the spotlight. Vasek Pospisil will be squaring off against Federer, while Milos Raonic will face wild card Robby Ginepri in his opening round match. The quartet of Tomas Berdych, Grigor Dimitrov, Ferrer and Andy Murray will also set to make their 2014 Western and Southern Open debuts.

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About the author
Rob Soria
Rob covers the ATP Tour and Toronto Blue Jays for VAVEL USA