Fish rolls in Toronto opener
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Last year's runner-up Mardy Fish was an easy second-round winner Tuesday at the Rogers Cup, the sixth of nine ATP Masters tournaments this year.
The 11th-seeded world No. 13 Fish crushed Aussie lucky-loser Matthew Ebden 6-2, 6-0 in a mere 53 minutes on the hardcourts at Rexall Centre.
The American Fish lost to Serbian star Novak Djokovic in last year's finale in Montreal, as this event shifts between Montreal and Toronto each year.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Up next for Fish will be seventh-seeded Argentine Juan Monaco, who reached the third round with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Canadian wild card Vasek Pospisil on Day 2.
Resurgent German Tommy Haas took out fellow former top-five star David Nalbandian of Argentina 6-2, 6-7 (11-13), 6-3 in 2 hours, 22 minutes , while recent Los Angeles titlist Sam Querrey of the United States drubbed struggling Austrian Jurgen Melzer 6-3, 6-2 in opening-round action. The 34-year-old Haas has appeared in three finals in the last two months, including a title in Halle, where he stunned Wimbledon champ Roger Federer in the final.
In some other first-round play, Czech Radek Stepanek defeated last week's Washington, D.C. champion Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine 6-3, 6-1; Spaniard Marcel Granollers overcame Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky 4-6, 6-4, 6-3; Russian Mikhail Youzhny handled South African Kevin Anderson 6-1, 7-6 (7-3); Italian Fabio Fognini outlasted Taiwan's Yen-Hsun Lu 7-6 (9-7), 5-7, 7-6 (7-5); and Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin dismissed Canadian Frank Dancevic 6-3, 7-5.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}This week's top seed is the reigning champion and two-time titlist Djokovic. The field also features Olympic gold medalist and Wimbledon runner-up Andy Murray and London Games bronze medalist and former U.S. Open champ Juan Martin del Potro. Murray, like Djokovic, has captured this Canadian Masters event twice. Del Potro was the 2009 runner-up to Murray in Montreal.
The newest Rogers Cup champ will collect $522,550.