By Mike McIntyre
Young Canadian Vasek Pospisil saw his good start at the Rogers Cup end on Wednesday by none other than the man he grew up idolizing, Roger Federer.
The two played the opening match on Centre Court in Montreal to almost a full-house and the Canuck did not disappoint his fans as he came out ready to play.
The pair remained even up until 5-5 in the first set with Pospisil appearing devoid of any nerves one might expect a player of his age (21) and ranking (155) to bring with him. Federer meanwhile was just trying to find his game after having not played since a Davis Cup match for Switzerland that was just over a month ago.
Federer starting picking it up in the late stages of the first set and Pospisil finally displayed some tightness while serving to stay in the frame at 5-6. A double-fault, a back-hand sent well long, a poor approach shot that left him stranded mid-court as a Federer forehand sailed by and another back-hand error into the net sealed his fate and gave Roger the crucial break and first set 7-5.
In the second set the pace seemed to pick-up and Federer's game began really clicking. Pospisil was unable to slow down his opponent's momentum nor stick with him as he had earlier in the match. Federer would pull-off the victory by a score of 7-5, 6-3. With the win Federer improves to 783-183 in his career win-loss ratio for a healthy +600 differential.
Pospisil can hold his head up high though as he has established himself as a top-150 player for the first time in his career and held his own against arguably the greatest player of all-time. Many expected the youngster might be routed today but instead he showed he is not out of place against a top-three player like Federer.
Next up for Roger is a re-match against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the man who defeated him in the quarter-finals of Wimbledon in June. Tsonga defeated young Australian prospect Bernard Tomic to advance in straight sets 6-3, 7-6.
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