Australia’s Bernard Tomic has marched into the third round of the Rogers Cup in Toronto after seeing off local favourite Steven Diez on Wednesday.
Tomic, who’s not playing at the Rio Olympics, is seeded 12th for the tournament which is a key event in the lead up to the US Open starting on August 29.
He beat world card Diez, ranked 192 in the world, 6-3 7-6 (7-4) in the pair’s first ever meeting and will now face big-serving South African Kevin Anderson for a place in the quarter-finals.
Novak Djokovic opened his North American hardcourt campaign with a 7-5 7-6 (7-3) victory over Luxembourg’s Gilles Mueller.
Djokovic, playing his first match since his shock third-round Wimbledon loss to American Sam Querrey, won 73 per cent of his service points and wrapped up the win in one hour and 43 minutes.
The Serbian world No.1, a three-times winner of the Canadian Masters event, will next play Czech qualifier Radek Stepanek, a 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 winner over Canadian wildcard Peter Polansky.
Querrey, whose Wimbledon run came to an end with a quarter-finals loss to eventual runner-up Milos Raonic, could not pen a similar script as he retired from his second-round clash with Belgian seventh seed David Goffin while trailing 6-4 2-1.
Japanese third seed Kei Nishikori beat American qualifier Dennis Novikov 6-4 7-5 and John Isner fell 7-6 (7-3) 6-7 (7-4) 6-4 to American Ryan Harrison.