Alexander Bublik, the Kazakh tennis player, managed to pass the first challenge presented by Dan Evans.
Faced with little trouble, this season’s runners-up in Antalya and Singapore won 86 percent of points from her first serve and converted three of the ten break points she created in the first half that lasted 1 hour 41 minutes.
“Winning in straight sets would be amazing. I held my nerves after I missed my first break point opportunity,” said Alexander Bublik.
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“Then I served better, maybe a little bit lucky in some points, because Dan is a very good player. The key to winning this time was to get through it at the right moment and I think I did well.”
Now, world number 39 Bublik must prepare as he will face first seed Daniil Medvedev in the second round of the Rogers Cup. To date, Medvedev is leading in their head to head with 2-0, when they met at the French Open this season and also at the Tokyo Olympics.
Croatian Marin Cilic also got off to a pretty good start to the Rogers Cup in Toronto with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 win over Spaniard Albert Ramos Vinolas.
Former world number 3 Cilic saved five of the seven break point opportunities he faced in a match that lasted 2 hours 13 minutes. With this victory, Cilic booked a second round match against sixth seed Casper Ruud who won his last three tournaments in a row, namely in Bastad, Gstaad and Kitzbuhel.
Meanwhile, five-time Rogers Cup winner Rafael Nadal finally found out that his opponent in the second round was South African Lloyd Harris who eliminated the host, Brayden Schnur 6-3, 6-2. Harris surprisingly beat second seed Nadal in Washington last week.
In other action, the Italian Fabio Fognini beat the German Jan Lennard Struff 6-7, 6-2, 6-4. World number 36 Fognini will next face fourth seed Andrey Rublev for a place in the Rogers Cup third round.
