Aug 25, 2018
Canada out in full force on Day 1 of US Open
When Day 1 of US Open coverage kicks off on Monday, the stars of Canadian tennis will be out in full force with a quartet set to hit the court at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, including an all-Canadian first-round match featuring young guns Denis Shapovalov and Felix Auger-Aliassime.
TSN.ca Staff
When Day 1 of US Open coverage kicks off on Monday, the stars of Canadian tennis will be out in full force with a quartet set to hit the court at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, including an all-Canadian first-round match featuring young guns Denis Shapovalov and Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Along with network coverage, TSN.ca is home to four daily bonus streams starting at 11am et/8am pt.
The first Canadian on the court on Monday is the No.25 seed Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont., who is set to do battle with Argentine veteran Carlos Berlocq.
This will be the fourth career matchup between Raonic, 27, and Berlocq, 35, and their first since the 2014 Portugal Open, a tournament that Berlocq won. Berlocq was a straight-sets victor (7-5, 6-4) in the quarters and went on to beat Tomas Berdych in the final for one of his two career ATP tournament victories.
In their previous two matchups, Raonic came out on top. Raonic defeated Berlocq in the first round of Wimbledon 2013 in straight sets (6-4, 6-3, 6-3) and at Indian Wells, in the second round in 2012, also in straight sets (6-4, 6-3).
Raonic is coming off of a loss to Novak Djokovic in the quarters of the Cincinnati Masters, while Berlocq most recently played at the IsarOpen, a clay tournament in Germany, where he fell in the quarters to Jan-Lennard Struff.
Raonic has never made it past the fourth round at the US Open.
The winner of Lloyd Harris and Giles Simon awaits the victor.
You can catch Milos Raonic's opening round match LIVE on TSN4 at 11am et/8am pt.
Up next on the docket is Vernon, BC's Vasek Pospisil, who takes on Lukas Lacko of Slovakia.
Pospisil and Lacko have never met before and the 30-year-old Lacko is looking for his first ever victory at the tournament. This is Lacko's ninth appearance at the US Open and he has yet to get past his opening matchup.
Pospisil will hope to not be Lacko's first scalp and get out of the first round for a third time. The 28-year-old Pospisil last won his opening match at Flushing Meadows in 2016.
Lacko was last in action at Winston-Salem, losing in the second round to Horacio Zeballos, while Pospisil lost to Daniel Evans in the semi-finals of the Vancouver Challenge.
The winner of this matchup likely faces world No. 1 Rafael Nadal in the second round.
You can catch Vasek Pospisil's opening round match LIVE on TSN3 at approximately 4:30pm et/1:30pm pt.
The final match of the day featuring Canadians is an all-Canuck encounter when the future of Canadian tennis goes head to head.
In a matchup of teenagers, Vaughan, Ont.'s Denis Shapovalov, the No. 27 seed, takes on qualifier Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal.
This is the first ever meeting between Shapovalov, 19, and Auger-Aliassime, 18, in an ATP tournament. Shapovalov hopes to go on another run like he did last year at Flushing Meadows, knocking off No.8 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on the way to the fourth round.
Each man is coming off of a loss to a fellow Canadian.
Shapovalov lost in the round of 16 at Cincinnati to Raonic, while Auger-Aliassime fell to Toronto's Peter Polansky in the second round of the Gatineau Challenger in Quebec.
You can catch Denis Shapovalov vs. Felix Auger-Aliassime LIVE on TSN1 and TSN4 not before 5pm et/2pm pt.
Polansky and Montreal's Eugenie Bouchard open their tournaments later in the week.