MONTREAL – There will be no Canadian three-peat for tennis star Andy Murray.
The two-time defending Rogers Cup men’s champion headed home early from this year’s tournament after crashing out Tuesday in stunning fashion.
The Scotsman lost 6-3, 6-1 in the second round to 35th-ranked Kevin Anderson of South Africa.
Murray, who had a bye in the first round, was seeded fourth and is fourth overall in the latest ATP rankings. He’s the tournament’s first defending champion to lose an opening match since Marat Safin was knocked out in 2001.
Meanwhile, Canada’s Vasek Pospisil scored an upset of his own, advancing to the second round with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over 22nd-ranked Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina.
The victory gave the 155th-ranked Pospisil his first win in his first-career singles main draw at an ATP World Tour event and secured a dream match-up in the next round against his hero: Roger Federer.
The 21-year-old from Vernon, B.C., idolized Federer as a kid and can’t wait to step onto the court with the world No. 3.
“He became my favourite player basically right when he won his first Slam,” Pospisil said. “Pretty amazing experience tomorrow. I’m looking forward to it.”
The current world No. 1, Novak Djokovic, didn’t get a chance to play Tuesday after a steady rain postponed his evening match against Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko – as well as several other scheduled late-afternoon and evening tilts.
Wednesday’s packed schedule will feature the three biggest names in the sport: Djokovic, No. 2-ranked Rafael Nadal and Federer.
The former world No. 1 Federer lost last year’s Rogers Cup final to Murray – but there will be no rematch this year at Montreal’s Uniprix Stadium.
“I’ve always played very well here and today I couldn’t get anything going,” said a visibly disappointed Murray, who had 19 unforced errors in the match.
“I started both sets really, really badly, which doesn’t help against someone who serves like Kevin.”
Murray, 24, who won the 2009 Rogers Cup in Montreal and successfully defended his title last year in Toronto, said his South African opponent’s serve is the best part of his game.
“If he serves well – it’s a very fast court, it’s tough to break – he can be dangerous,” Murray said.
The frustrated player’s head dropped and his shoulders slumped after he drove a game-point shot right into the middle of the net to put Anderson up 5-1 in the second set.
“I just felt very slow,” he said. “The game seemed to be going so fast.”
The rangy, six-foot-eight Anderson had only ever beaten one top-10 player going into the match – Novak Djokovic in 2008.
He landed 65 per cent of his first serves and had five aces at centre court, where he drew loud cheers from the crowd after the upset.
“(It was) not exactly what I was expecting,” the 25-year-old said of Murray’s performance, which resulted in 19 unforced errors.
“And at the same time I think … the way I played, the way I served today – I think I did make it pretty tough for him.”
He called it the biggest victory of his career.
“I played him a couple years back and he beat me pretty bad,” Anderson said. “I knew I what I had to do today.”
As Anderson completed his upset on the stadium’s main stage, Pospisil executed his own surprise on a neighbouring court before a crowd of supportive fans.
He was down 4-2 in the third set, but stormed back.
“I just kind of hung in there and waited for my opportunities and kind of went for my shots,” said Pospisil.
He said the prospect of playing Federer gave him some extra motivation on the hard court.
“I felt like I had a good chance to win today, so I really wanted to come through,” Pospisil said. “So I was able to dig deep.”
Earlier Tuesday, German qualifier Philipp Petzschner ousted No. 9 Gilles Simon of France 7-5, 6-2.
After a tight first set, Petzschner dominated the second against Simon, who is ranked 11th in the world. The 80th-ranked Petzschner will take on Ivo Karlovic of Croatia in the second round.
Meanwhile in other early action, No. 10 seed Richard Gasquet of France got past Floria Mayer of Germany 6-3, 6-2; American qualifier Michael Russell downed Spain’s Albert Montanes 7-5, 6-2; and Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky upended Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-2, 7-5; Serbia’s Viktor Troicki beat American Michael Yani 2-6, 6-3, 6-1; Michael Llorda of France defeated Mikhail Youzhny of Russia 3-6, 6-3, 7-6; Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia knocked out Colombia’s Alejandro Falla 7-5, 6-1.
A steady downpour in Montreal postponed late-afternoon and evening matches, including several singles matches: Fernando Verdasco of Spain vs. Tobias Kamke of Germany; Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus vs. American John Isner; Feliciano Lopez of Spain vs. Radek Stepanek of Czech Republic. All of them are listed on Wednesday’s schedule.
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