Lethargic Kyrgios crashes out to junior in Toronto

TORONTO — Nick Kyrgios turned in a patchy performance to exit the Toronto Masters 7-6 (7/2) 3-6 6-3 at the hands of Wimbledon junior champion Denis Shapovalov.

South African Kevin Anderson ended a losing streak of three consecutive opening matches, downing Serb Viktor Troicki 7-6 (7/4) 6-3.

The 17-year-old Canadian Shapovalov set up a match point with his 12th ace, then calmly closed out the upset over the 19th-ranked Australian Kyrgios.

In his first match since losing to ultimate champion Andy Murray in the Wimbledon fourth round, Kyrgios at times showed little interest on court, serving at lightning speed with only a few seconds between points.

During one changeover, he was heard muttering to himself

in dissatisfaction.

"Not great, obviously," said Kyrgios after the match. He was troubled by a sore knee but still unhappy with his lethargic showing. "I don’t know. I just didn’t play great."

The 11th seed somehow struck an ace as his racquet flew from his hand on one serve, but his 13 aces were outnumbered by 18 double faults. "I’m not going to tell you what I did or didn’t do to prepare for this match. I just played pretty bad, but he played great and he earned it.

"Obviously he was excited playing in front of his home crowd. I know what it feels like to come off one of your biggest junior results and then play in one of your home tournaments," said Kyrgios.

Shapovalov, playing in only his second ATP event, will take on former top 10 contender Grigor Dimitrov, who is trying to claw his way back in a disappointing season.

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The Bulgarian reached the second round with a 5-7 7-6 (7/5) 6-4 win over Yuichi Sugita.

Three other seeds advanced, with No9 John Isner coming back to eliminate Dudi Sela 4-6 6-3 6-2.

Australian 12th seed Bernard Tomic beat Alejandro Gonzalez while Jack Sock, the No16, defeated Denis Kudla.

Dimitrov, ranked 48th, got out of danger against Sugita after trailing a set and a break.

Dimitrov, who lost six straight matches prior to Wimbledon, improved to 21-16 in 2016. "It was a very tough match. I didn’t play my best tennis but I got through," he said.

"The weeks before Wimbledon were difficult for me," he added. "Patience is the key for me now; that’s what it’s all about."

Dimitrov said he finally turned the corner in the match while trailing 4-1 in the second-set tiebreaker, standing just a handful of points from a first-round exit. The Bulgarian won a lob-to-lob exchange with the 107th-ranked Sugita, coming through to level the set and take on new life in the third. "I was desperate to win that point," Dimitrov admitted. "It feels great to win a round here."

Borna Coric won an all-Croatian clash as he beat Ivan Dodig 5-7 6-4 6-2.

"It was a good match from my side," said the winner, who next plays fifth-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych. "In the first set, I didn’t play my best tennis and I didn’t feel very confident."

Canadian Steven Diez surprised Briton Kyle Edmund 3-6 6-3 6-2. The wild card entry will play Tomic.

AFP