Rain dominated proceedings on day three at the Rogers Cup, forcing matches to be delayed and spread all over the grounds at the Aviva Centre in Toronto. Once play was completed, well after midnight for the second night in a row, the most of the favourites were still standing, although there was a lot fewer maple leaves flying in the draw.
Here's what happened on day three at the Rogers Cup.
Results
The day got off to a rough start as first, Juan Martin del Potro announced he was withdrawing with a left wrist injury. He was replaced by lucky loser Mikhail Youzhny, who was promptly dispatched by Robin Haase. Then, because of the rain, play did not start until almost an hour after the initial scheduled start time.
Rain was a persistent problem throughout the day, forcing matches to be moved all over the grounds. There was a brief lull just long enough to get play started around noon, although only one match could be completed in that time. Fortunately, just over an hour was all Novak Djokovic needed to wrap up his second-round victory over Peter Polansky. Check out the full recap here.
World number one Rafael Nadal kicked off his summer hard court season on Wednesday night, throwing down a dominant return performance, albeit coupled with a questionable serving performance, to beat Benoit Paire in straight sets. Check out the full recap here.
Second seed Alexander Zverev got his title defence underway on Wednesday, kicking it off with a straight-forward straight-sets win over American qualifier Bradley Klahn.
After a fantastic opening round, the host Canadians suffered some big disappointment on day three. After Polansky went down, Milos Raonic suffered a stunning loss at the hands of Frances Tiafoe. The young American outserved one of the world's best, eventually solving the Canadian's primary weapon and routing him 6-1 in the third set.
Later in the evening, Félix Auger-Aliassime saw his Rogers Cup campaign come to an end on his 18th birthday. The wildcard dueled with Daniil Medvedev for over two and a half hours, past midnight, with next to nothing to separate them. In the end, the Montreal-native could not maintain a break lead in the set nor a minibreak lead in the final set tiebreak, eventually falling in the breaker 9-7.
It wasn't all disappointment for the host nation on day three, as Canadian number one Denis Shapovalov scored another impressive victory in his second round clash, knocking off fourteenth seed Fabio Fognini in straight sets. It wasn't easy, as the teen needed to overcome a court change, lots of rain, and classically erratic Fognini performance. Check out the full recap here.
The biggest upset of the day saw seventh seed Dominic Thiem ousted in his opening match by the red-hot Stefanos Tsitsipas. The Greek teen, coming off a semifinal performance in Washington last week, broke early in the first set and never looked back, taking the struggling Austrian down in straight sets.
After around the second rain delay lasted around two and a half hours, play was able to continue long enough for Ilya Ivashka to finish off Ryan Harrison and Karen Khachanov to complete his upset of 12th seed Pablo Carreno Busta.
Despite the multiple interruptions, play was completed on Wednesday, with fourth seed Kevin Anderson, eighth seed John Isner, and 11th seed Diego Schwarztman all claiming victories out on the side courts. Stan Wawrinka claimed a late-night victory, topping Marton Fucsovics 12-10 in the third set tiebreak.
Everyone will be in third-round action on Thursday in Toronto.