Advantage Raonic: A Look at Rogers Cup Action

On Sunday, Milos Raonic became the first Canadian in 55 years to play in the final of the Rogers Cup (formerly Canadian Open). He may have lost the final in Montreal to 12-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal, but that didn’t diminish the outstanding week for Canadian tennis.

Raonic had advanced to the final after defeating fellow Canadian Vasek Pospisil in the semifinal. It was a matchup so unexpected that Tennis Canada noted it wasn’t a typo when tweeting the news. They were the first home-grown semifinalists at the Rogers Cup since 1969.

They were also just two of the unprecedented five Canadian men to reach the second round of the country’s premier international tournament, joining Jesse Levine, Filip Peliwo and Frank Dancevic.

Doubles king Daniel Nestor made his own history by becoming the first man to compete in the same ATP event for 25 straight years. He has been on court at the Rogers Cup every year since 1989, before Raonic and Pospisil were even born.

Meanwhile the women were competing at the Rogers Cup in Toronto. Eugenie Bouchard, the top-ranked Canadian singles player at number 62, was defeated in the second round by former Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova but continues to gain some notable fans.