Vernon’s Vasek Pospisil is one of five Canadians entered in singles play as the US Open Tennis Championship starts Monday, Aug. 31, in New York City.
Pospisil, currently ranked No. 92 in the world in men’s singles, will face Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany (No. 74) at 8 a.m. Pacific time Tuesday, Sept. 1, in the opening round of the Grand Slam event.
After coming back from an injury that kept him out of the end of the 2019 season, Pospisil was having a great start to the year, notably reaching the final at the ATP 250 event in Marseilles back in February.
Pospisil has never advanced past the second round in New York in his US Open singles history. In doubles, the 2014 Wimbledon champ with American partner Jack Sock has never advanced past the third round.
The doubles draw will be released Monday, Aug. 31.
Kohlschreiber has eight career tour victories. His best results at the US Open came in 2017 and 2018. He lost in the first round in 2019.
Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont. is the highest-ranked Canadian in singles play, coming in at No. 17., and will be the tournament’s 12th seed. The 15th seed is Montreal’s Felix Auger-Aliassime and Milos Raonic is the 25th seed.
Pospisil could face Raonic in a second-round matchup. Raonic, from Thornhill, Ont., takes on Leonardo Mayer of Argentina in the first round.
On the women’s side, Leylah Annie Fernandez of Laval, Que. is the only Canadian in singles action. She will be competing in her second Grand Slam main draw, having won all her qualifying matches at the Australian Open earlier this year. She will be taking on Vera Zvonareva of Russia in the opening round.
Defending women’s singles champion Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont. pulled out of the tournament as she continues to recover from a knee injury suffered in October 2019.
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roger@vernonmorningstar.com
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