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RESULTS 🎾

💥 = Beatdown \\ 🤕 = Injury \\ ‼️ = Upset \\ 🤯 = Epic

Featured Matches

Wawrinka d Dimitrov: 6-4, 6-4

TL;DW: Dimitrov’s confidence still appears to be lurking somewhere close to rock bottom, but Wawrinka looked impressive today nonetheless. Stan was helped out by some untimely double faults from Dimitrov (to convert breaks in both sets), but the Swiss also put in the superior first serve return performance to get the win. Wawrinka finished with 70% of 1st serve returns made, compared to Dimitrov’s 37%, helping Stan more than triple the number of 1st serve return points won compared to his opponent (16/42 vs Dimitrov’s 5/36). Wawrinka managed this thanks to some smart blocked returns (analysis in ‘Extra’s’ section further down). Dimitrov’s serving performance showed signs of his lingering shoulder problem, with his avg speed today nearly 5kph down on his historical avg, and looking rather safe with that first delivery on numerous occasions.

What’s next for Wawrinka? A really interesting 2nd Rd vs Khachanov.

Shapovalov d Herbert: 6-3, 7-5

Big win for Shapo, who snaps a 5 match losing streak, with the Canadian looking particularly energised in front of his home crowd. The contest featured something we haven’t seen too much from Shapo over the past year and a half: some very impressive big point play, on both serve and return…

(1st set) Shapo comes up with stunning backhand passes to break Herbert for 2*-1. Then gets out of subsequent 0-30 hole with big serving to consolidate break.

(1st set) Shapo hits 3 wild unforced errors in a single game at 4*-3, but finds more big serves, and fearless baseline tennis, to save 2 BP’s.

(2nd set) Shapo, despite double faulting twice in a row to gift the 1*-0 break to Herbert, breaks back immediately with 3 great returns of serve.

(2nd Set) Shapo faces 30-30 on serve at 3-3, but finds another good serve to save game.

(2nd Set) Shapo faces 15-30 hole serving at 5-5, but finds a huge 2nd serve (in by a hair). Follows up with good 1-2 punches to escape game.

(2nd Set) Shapo finds more big returns to break Herbert (at 5*-6) and take match.

TL;DW: Shapo’s serving under pressure was excellent today, and the very aggressive return attempts (that we’re used to seeing miss by a distance), were landing. Shapo continues to tread a very fine line between bad errors and audacious aggression. But today the Canadian managed to spend the key moments of the match on the right side of that line.

What’s next for Shapo? Blockbuster vs Thiem.🍿

Raonic d Pouille: 6-4, 6-4

TL;DW: Raonic was better in every department today. The Canadian served and returned better than Pouille (especially off/on the 1st serve): Pouille managed to put just 32% of his 1st serve returns back in play compared to Raonic’s very impressive 77%. This manifested as a singular, yet decisive, break in Raonic’s favour in each set. With the Canadian’s superior return depth, and serve speed, setting him up to dominate the shorter points (Raonic won 53 to Pouille’s 34 in points between 0-4 shots). 🎥 GIF Summary:

— A recurring theme today, Raonic booming a big return onto Pouille’s baseline and then dispatching the inevitably short reply. A returners 1-2 punch🔥. (TennisTV)

What’s next for Raonic? Plays the winner of Auger-Aliassime vs Pospisil.

Monfils d Polansky: 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-3

TL;DW: Crazy first set. Monfils was 4-1 up after 13 minutes and dominating proceedings effortlessly. But Polansky then moved a metre closer to the baseline, and just straight-up crushed every ball that came near him (most of which went in). The Canadian wound up winning the set 7-6, in one of the best nothing-to-lose displays of red-lining you’ll ever see. Monfils then had to save two BP’s, early in the 2nd set, before breaking Polansky twice to tie the match up at a set all. Simply, Polanksy couldn’t maintain his set one purple patch, with the Canadian fading after Monfils saved the BP’s. Monfils then recovered from a break down in the third, to finally put Polansky away. Seriously spirited performance from Polansky, but his low margin aggression was always going to be tricky to sustain over the course of 2 hours of matchplay. Monfils, and his grumbling achilles issue, will not have appreciated the amount of running he had to do tonight. A bit of an escape for La Monf.

Also:

Struff d Tsonga : 6-2, 6-2 💥

Garin d Djere : 6-2, 7-6(4)

Norrie d Fucsovics : 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 (plays A.Zverev next)

Paul d Schnur : 6-1, 6-2 💥

Basilashvili d Lajovic : 3-6, 6-4, 6-4

Kukushkin d Mannarino : 6-4, 6-4

Bautista Agut d Tomic : 6-3, 6-2

Gasquet d Paire : 7-6(2), 6-4

Ivashka d Kwon: 7-6(3), 6-4

SHOTS OF THE DAY 😮

— Raonic slapping a forehand vs Pouille. (TennisTV)

— A Wawrinka special. 🔥 (TennisTV)

— Couple of great points from this match that were too long to GIF.

— A Shapo special to break Herbert early on 🔥 (TennisTV)

— Another angle:

— Shapo destroying a slow Herbert 2nd serve. 97mph bullet. (TennisTV)

— Really nice feel on this drop shot from Herbert. (TennisTV)

— Historically these huge 1st serve return attempts from Shapo have been flying out, or in the net. But today they landed when it mattered. Ridiculous 1-2 returner punch. (TennisTV)

— Monfils making the game look effortless as usual 🤷🏿‍♂️. (TennisTV)

INTERVIEW/PRESSER BEST BITS🎤

— Muzza possibly playing singles next week. Which seems crazy given where he was just a few months ago.

Murray on Kygrios:

“Everyone matures at different ages. Some people are ready when they are 18, 19 to deal with what comes with being a top athlete and some people aren't ready and it takes them a bit of time. I'm hoping that with time Nick will learn and be better for it. When he's engaged in tennis and wants to play he's brilliant for the game. And when he isn't giving his best effort and misbehaving, that's not what people want to see. He needs to find that balance.”

Raonic on his very stop and start season:

“I'm still trying to find the first tournament I can get through healthy.”

Zverev on his ‘bad’ year so far:

“It has not been the best year for me, but I am still No. 9 in the Race, competing for London and the biggest tournaments in the world. For me, the year can only get better. I hope it will start happening here. I hope it will go through the hard-court swing in the US and we will see. It is not all as bad as everybody thinks it is.”

Wawrinka after beating Dimitrov:

“It was a great match. I'm really happy. It's always difficult to play against Grigor. I'm happy with the match and with the atmosphere. It's always amazing to come back to Montreal. I did a lot of practice, I put in a lot of hard work to be at a great level... I'm happy with where I am right now.”

ORDER OF PLAY FOR TUESDAY 📅

COURT CENTRAL

— 12pm Montreal (ET), 5pm UK,

🇭🇷 Cilic vs Klahn 🇺🇸 (1st Meeting)

Prediction: Cilic in 2

🇨🇦 Auger-Aliassime vs Pospisil 🇨🇦 (H2H: 2-0) (Hard H2H: 1-0)

Prediction: Auger-Aliassime in 2

— NB 6:30pm Montreal, 11:30pm UK —

🇦🇺 Kyrgios vs Edmund 🇬🇧 (H2H: 1-0) (1st Hard Meeting) 🔥

Prediction: Edmund in 3

🇩🇪 A.Zverev vs Norrie 🇬🇧 (H2H: 1-0) (Hard H2H: 1-0)

Prediction: Zverev in 3

BANQUE NATIONALE

— 12pm Montreal (ET), 5pm UK,

🇺🇸 Isner vs Thompson 🇦🇺 (H2H: 2-0) (Hard H2H: 1-0)

Prediction: Isner in 2

🇧🇪 Goffin vs Pella 🇦🇷 (H2H: 3-0) (Hard H2H: 2-0)

Prediction: Goffin in 2

🇭🇷 Coric vs Gojowczyk 🇩🇪 (1st Meeting)

Prediction: Coric in 3

🇩🇪 Struff vs Basilashvili 🇬🇪 (1st Meeting) 🔥

Prediction: Struff in 3

COURT 9

— 12pm Montreal (ET), 5pm UK,

🇦🇺 De Minaur vs Evans 🇬🇧 (1st Meeting) 🔥

Prediction: De Minaur in 3

🇦🇺 Millman vs F.Lopez 🇪🇸 (H2H: 1-0) (1st Hard Meeting)

Prediction: Millman in 3

(Millman, a lucky loser, replaced Berrettini, who pulled out at the last minute due to his ongoing ankle injury. Funnily enough I had Lopez beating Berrettini, so this is probably an unwelcome change for the Spaniard!)

— Last Match —

A.Murray/F.Lopez vs Kubot/Melo

COURT 5

— 12pm Montreal (ET), 5pm UK,

🇫🇷 Simon vs Albot 🇲🇩 (H2H: 2-0) (Hard H2H: 2-0)

Prediction: Simon in 2

🇦🇷 Schwartzman vs Cecchinato 🇮🇹 (H2H: 1-1) (1st Hard Meeting)

Prediction: Schwartzman in 3

🇵🇱 Hurkacz vs Fritz 🇺🇸 (H2H: 0-1) (1st Hard Meeting)

Prediction: Hurkacz in 3

EXTRAS 🔍📊🎤

The Wawrinka Return Strategy 🎥

— 👆Wawrinka with his usual return strategy: up near the baseline to return (and block) 1st serves (above left), and standing far back to return (and drive) 2nd serves (above right).

Left👇 - 1st serve: up on baseline, slice grip, blocked punch. Goal = a high % of 1st serves back in play.

Right👇 - 2nd serve: deep position, normal topspin drive grip, big swing. Goal = negate serving adv with high margin (i.e high net clearance) aggression/depth.

— It may seem counterintuitive to back up and stand deeper to return the slower serve (which is exactly what Stan is doing), but it makes sense if you consider that taking a big swing when returning a very fast 1st serve is significantly lower margin than doing so on the slower (2nd serve) ball. And Stan’s forehand slice block in particular, off 1st serves, is also better than the vast majority of the rest of the tour. Here are a few more examples from today:

— Tsonga has lost 11 of his last 12 matches in Masters 1000’s

NEW BALLS PLEASE 👀

— Tsitsipas, Medvedev and Kyrgios shared a bus and a private jet to fly from Washington to Montreal. Source

Medvedev: “Sooo, Stefanos, are we gonna talk about you blocking me on Instagram? You think you’re a good kid?”

Tsitsipas: *nervously fiddles with vlogging camera*

Kyrgios: “I’ve got you both blocked, sorry to tell you that m8’s.”

Tsitsipas: *goes emergency toilet*

(References linked below if you somehow haven’t seen it yet)

— Daniil seems to be taking his Washington final loss well.

— Jordan Thompson narrowly missing a lady in row Z with this first serve…

— Mannarino vs Kukushkin and Tomic vs Bautista Agut played at the same time on neighbouring courts today.

— Monfils using every inch of his racquet vs Polansky.

— Benoit is the honey badger. He does what he wants.

Matt: I’ve decided to release the daily recaps out to everyone during Montreal. Hopefully this will give anyone new to The Racquet the chance to see what a paid subscription is like (usually daily coverage is reserved for paid subscribers, while free subs gets weekly updates). Daily Cincinnati and US Open coverage will still be for paid subscribers only. You can try the first month free, to make sure it’s worth it, here:

1st Month Free

GAME, SET, MATCH 👋

— The Racquet is created, and written, by Matt.

— You can find me on Twitter here.

See you tomorrow for Day 2 of Montreal!