TORONTO
\nTop seeds Alexander Zverev of Germany and American Coco Gauff advanced to the third round of the Canadian Open on Tuesday after both players were pushed hard by their opponents.
\nWorld number three Zverev, playing in his first match since his first-round loss at Wimbledon, was far from his best but emerged with a 7-6(8\/6), 6-4 win over Adam Walton under the lights in Toronto.
\nMomentum shifted firmly in Zverev\u2019s favour when he won a 52-shot rally in the first set tiebreak, and he sealed the win on a double fault by the Australian in the second set.
\n\u201cIt was a very important moment, very important point for me,\u201d Zverev said. \u201cLucky to get through in the first set and finish it off in two.\u201d
\nZverez said he did not play his \u201cprettiest\u201d match but was proud of how he battled after taking a break from the game following his early Wimbledon exit.
\n\u201cI took some time off, which I needed also for myself. I\u2019m happy to be playing again,\u201d added Zverev, after recording 499th win of his career.
\nZverev next plays 32nd seed Matteo Arnaldi, who defeated qualifier Tristan Schoolkate 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, on Thursday.
\nThird-seeded Lorenzo Musetti and number five Holger Rune both eased into action with comfortable straight set wins. The pair began after byes and wasted little time in advancing into the third round, with Musetti hammering Australian qualifier James Duckworth 7-5, 6-1.
\nRune dispatched big hitter Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard 7-6 (9\/7), 6-3.
\n\u201cIt was a very tricky first match for me, he\u2019s a big server and (there was) not a lot of rhythm in the match,\u201d Rune said after his 75-minute win.
\n\u201cI had to really take care of my own serve, and then just look for the opportunities.
\n\u201cIt was about finding a way to win at the end of the (first set) tiebreak. In the second set I was pretty good when it mattered. I think I was serving very well today.\u201d
\nNumber eight Casper Ruud put out Roman Safiullin 6-3, 6-3 for another seeded win.
\nElsewhere, 11th seed Karen Khachanov beat Juan Pablo Ficovich of Argentina 6-4, 6-2.
\nLast year\u2019s winner in Canada, Alexei Popyrin, defeated local wild card Nicolas Arseneault 7-6(9\/7), 6-3.
\nCanadian Denis Shapovalov continued his unlucky home streak taking a 7-6(7\/4), 7-5 loss to Learner Tien and extending a losing run dating to 2019 at home.
\nTenth-seeded former champion Daniil Medvedev got through his opening match and will next face Popyrin after a 7-6(7\/3), 6-4 win against Czech lucky loser Dalibor Svrcina, ended with more than 40 unforced errors.
\nOn the women\u2019s side, top seed Gauff was two points from defeat but battled back to beat fellow American Danielle Collins 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(7\/2) in a nearly three-hour battle to reach the third round.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TORONTO Top seeds Alexander Zverev of Germany and American Coco Gauff advanced to the third round of the Canadian Open on Tuesday after both players were pushed hard by their opponents. World number three Zverev, playing in his first match since his first-round loss at Wimbledon, was far from his best but emerged with a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-494085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n