Tipsarevic Sets Cilic Clash; Stepanek Upsets Del Potro

© Getty ImagesRadek Stepanek upset Olympic Bronze Medallist Juan Martin del Potro.

Fifth seed Janko Tipsarevic opened his Rogers Cup campaign on Wednesday in Toronto with a 7-6(2), 6-4 victory over Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny. The Serbian, a semi-finalist at this ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament last year (l. to Fish), broke serve three times from five opportunities and won 83 per cent of points behind his first serve to claim victory in one hour and 43 minutes.

The 28-year-old Tipsarevic has been in strong form of late, winning his third ATP World Tour title in Stuttgart (d. Monaco) and reaching the final a week later in Gstaad (l. to Bellucci). He has a 42-16 match record on the season.

Tipsarevic goes onto face 10th-seeded Croatian Marin Cilic, who dismissed Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus 7-5, 6-3 in 81 minutes. The 23-year-old Cilic is coming off a second-round defeat at the London 2012 Olympics Tennis Event (l. to Hewitt) and is bidding to reach the quarter-finals in Toronto for the second time (l. to Simon in 2008).

Olympic bronze medallist Juan Martin del Potro was upset in his opening second-round match, falling to Radek Stepanek. The Czech player broke serve four times and fired nine aces to claim a 6-4, 7-6(5) victory in one hour and 50 minutes. The 33-year-old Stepanek was a semi-finalist in Montreal in 2007 (l. to Federer).

"I came here Monday night," explained del Potro. "It's not easy to play after a big effort in the Olympics, but I tried anyway. Now I need time to recover my body if I want to stay healthy. It's a fantastic tournament here in Toronto. I would like to play more matches, but Radek played better and was a good winner today."

German No. 12 seed Philipp Kohlschreiber set a third-round clash with eighth-seeded American John Isner after beating Italian qualifier Fabio Fognini 6-2, 6-2 in one hour. Kohlschreiber saved all five break points he faced to notch his 37th win of the season.  

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