Canadian Vasek Pospisil advances to second round at Wimbledon

LONDON – Canada’s Vasek Pospisil is heading to the second round at Wimbledon.

Pospisil, from Vancouver, beat Spain’s Roberto Carballes Baena 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 in the opening round of the grass-court Grand Slam on Monday.

Pospisil, ranked 65th in the world, recorded his first win at Wimbledon since making a run to the quarterfinals in 2015.

The Canadian fired 17 aces and won 82 per cent of points when he got his first serve in against the world No. 100.

Pospisil will next face world No. 57 Frances Tiafoe. The American upset No. 3 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas on Monday.

It will mark the first career meeting between Pospisil and Tiafoe.

Meanwhile, No. 10 seed Denis Shapovalov’s first-round match against Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber was postponed until Tuesday.

Shapovalov, from Richmond Hill, Ont., is the top-ranked Canadian men’s player.

Montreal’s Felix Auger-Aliassime, Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., and Leylah Annie Fernandez of Laval, Que., are the other Canadians in the singles draws.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 28, 2021.