Canadians advance in tennis openers

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This article was published 31/07/2012 (4834 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

LONDON — Milos Raonic and Aleksandra Wozniak looked sharp in their Olympic tennis debuts.

They’ll need to be even better if they want to advance any further in their unforgiving draws at the London Games.

Raonic, from Thornhill, Ont., opened his first-round match against Japan’s Tatsuma Ito with an ace Monday, then cruised to a comfortable 6-3, 6-4 win.

His second-round match will be much different. Raonic faces World No. 6 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France on Tuesday.

Wozniak, from Blainville, Que., also faces a daunting second-round opponent — American star Venus Williams. Wozniak will need to reproduce the form she showed in a decisive 6-2, 6-1 first-round win over New Zealand’s Marina Erakovic.

In men’s doubles, Toronto’s Daniel Nestor and Vancouver’s Vasek Pospisil advanced to the second round with a 6-3, 7-6 win over Horia Tecau and Adrian Ungur of Romania.

The tennis players were among Canada’s strongest athletes on Day 3, a relatively quiet day following a bronze-medal performance in three-metre synchronized diving from Emilie Heymans and Jennifer Abel on Sunday.

On the water, the men’s eight crew recovered from a horrible opening race and advanced to Wednesday’s final. Canada finished second in its repechage Monday, just behind Britain.

In women’s basketball, Canada scored a 73-65 win over Britain.

In the pool, Canadians Barbara Jardin and Samantha Cheverton missed out on the final of the women’s 200-metre freestyle, finishing 10th and 11th respectively in the semifinal. Erica Morningstar of Calgary missed a berth in the 200-metre individual medley semi by one spot, finishing 17th in 2:14.32.

In men’s beach volleyball, Canadians Josh Binstock and Martin Reader dropped a 2-0 decision to Norway in their second match of the tournament.

— The Canadian Press