The All-Canadian pair of Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil delighted the home crowd on Thursday night in Toronto, albeit briefly, as they squeaked out a bizarre victory over youngsters Nick Kyrgios and Jack Sock.
After applying pressure throughout the first set, Nestor and Pospisil won the tiebreak to claim the opening set.Midway through the first game of the second set, the rain came pouring down, forcing the teams to retreat to the dressing room. It was 10:10 pm local time at the time of the delay and with the prospect of an overnight delay already looming, Sock retired with an arm injury to give the victory to the Canadians.
Adding to the drama was the match-up between former partners Pospisil and Sock. The 2014 Wimbledon champions had split prior to the tournament and the tennis gods added to the drama when the pair were drawn to face each other in the second round of the Rogers Cup. In the end, it was Pospisil, aided by the veteran presence of Nestor, that got the better of the first match between the former teammates.
Canadians finally break through in tiebreak
Serve was the order of the day in the opening set, with both pairs holding with relative ease through the first five games. It would be the Canadians who would get the first look on their opponent’s serve, racing out to a 0-30 lead in the sixth game. Kyrgios and Sock would level, but Pospisil and Nestor reached double break point, but could not convert either, even when they got their choice to receive at deuce.
Serving to stay in the breaker, Sock and Kyrgios found themselves in trouble again. They blew a 40-0 lead to give the Canadians set point at deuce. In the craziest rally of the match, Pospisil and Nestor both got into the net and threw everything at Kyrgios and Sock. Pospisil had a chance to put the set away when he smacked a volley into the feet of Kyrgios. In proper Kyrgios fashion, the Aussie smacked a tweener back at Pospisil which caught the younger Canadian by surprise. He would go on to miss a volley to send the set to a tiebreak.
After spending most of the set on defense, it was the youngsters who drew first blood in the breaker when Sock somehow chipped a lot over the Canadians’ heads for a 3-2 lead. It would not last, however, as back-to-back errors, one from Sock and one from Kyrgios, gave the minibreak back to the Canadians. Pospisil won both his service points to give the Canadians triple set point at 6-3. Kyrgios would drive a shot into the net on the second set point to give the set to the Canadians.
Sudden end
Three points into the second set, the rain came pouring down. The players left the court as fans took shelter under the bleachers. The rain was initially expected to last for around 45 minutes, which meant it was highly unlikely that play would be completed that night. However, the rain became irrelevant as around 20 minutes after leaving the court, Sock announced that he could not continue due to a right arm injury. The American had played and lost earlier in the day in singles to Stan Wawrinka.
Nestor and Pospisil move into the quarterfinals where they will play Tomas Berdych and Nestor’s former partner Radek Stepanek in the second round.