The second round of the ATP Rogers Cup proved as decisive as it did routine for the big four with Rafa Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray winning in straight sets but there were shock defeats for Stan Wawrinka, Tomas Berdych and Marin Cilic on an exciting day in French Canada.
The big three ease through
In last week's Citi Open, Andy Murray produced an incredibly disappointing performance as he was defeated in three sets by the unheralded Teymuraz Gabashvili. Murray's first appearance at the tournament in nine years was not the second coming he had hoped. But in Montreal he will hoping for a better performance as he looks to win the tournament for the first time since 2009 and he produced a steady performance to win in the second round.
Playing against Tommy Robredo for the third time in a year, Murray boasts a strong head to head record against the veteran Spaniard and within two hours of play, the record was only furthered. Murray won the first set 6-4 before being pushed a lot further in the second for the eventual 6-4 7-5 win. It was far from a Murray classic with only 54% of first serves but he will be delighted to have comfortably won through after last week's defeat.
He will be joined in the third round by his fellow big three companions Novak Djokovic and Rafa Nadal as they both won through in straight sets against Thomaz Bellucci and Sergiy Stakhovsky respectively.
The winner in 2012, Djokovic has firmly established himself as the world number one and the man everyone wants to beat. But that is easier said than done, as poor Bellucci found out, however the Brazilian produced a fine fighting performance to limit the Serb's victory to 6-3 7-6 (4).
Rafa Nadal, meanwhile, as he looks to continue his winning form post Wimbledon after his victory in Hamburg, easily dispatched a former Roger Federer victor in Sergiy Stakhosvky. Nadal, who dropped only one set on route to the trophy last week, was made to work initially but in the end ran out the comfortable winner 7-6(4) 6-3.
But other big names fall
Whilst it was routine for the big three appearing at the tournament, some other household names would have a night to forget on a day of triumph for the controversial Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic and Gilles Muller, Ivo Karlovic and Jack Sock.
Stan Wawrinka is man who on his day can beat anyone he faces as he has proved in his two grand slam victories so far. But when the winds of defeat are battering him, he often falters. His game against the controversial Nick Kyrgios would prove to be in the latter category with the Swiss retiring to hand the Aussie the win as he raced into a 4-0 victory in the third set. Whilst Wawrinka may have started with a bang as he won the first set on a tie break, but the changing tide in the favour of Kyrgios would soon bring Wawrinka crashing back to earth as began to erratically lose focus before eventually retiring at 7-6 (8) 4-6 0-4 down.
And Kyrgios was not the only controversial Aussie to upset the apple cart on Wednesday as Bernard Tomic produced a performance which underlines his huge potential as he comfortably brushed aside the challenge of the current US Open champion Marin Cilic in straight sets to secure his biggest victory of the year.
Meanwhile, the big serving Gilles Muller and Ivo Karlovic rolled back their respective years to defeat much younger opponents. Muller, who has been cursed with some difficult draws in recent weeks including facing Richard Gasquet last week, secured revenge against Gasquet's French teammate Gael Monfils as he defeated the enigmatic Monfils in three tough sets. A set apiece going into the third, Muller and Monfils battled to a tie break before the Luxembourger won it 7-4 to secure a 6-4 3-6 7-6 (4) win.
And Ivo Karlovic produced a typical serving masterclass to school the much younger Milos Raonic in straight sets with both going unsurprisingly to tie breaks. Serving 22 aces and never leaking a break point opportunity, Karlovic battled through to win 7-6(1) 7-6(1).
Finally, Jack Sock fought back from a set down to defeat the once much touted Grigor Dimitrov and condem the Bulgarian to yet another defeat. Sock, who is one of many talented young americans on tour, defeafed Dimitrov 5-7 7-6 (5) 7-5.