Toronto: Canadian wildcard Peter Polansky provided the opening day fireworks at the Toronto Masters on Monday with a 7-6 6-4 upset over 13th seeded Austrian Jurgen Melzer in front of an appreciative home crowd.
With the opening night fireworks display delayed because of overcast conditions, it was up to the 22-year-old Polansky to deliver the excitement before handing center court over to Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic for a doubles match.
Polansky, ranked 207, delivered and became the first Canadian to beat a top 15 opponent on home court since 2003 when Simon Larose stunned Gustavo Kuerten.
Audio: Tom Bartlett reports from Day 1 of the tennis masters in Toronto
"I had some good practice against top guys so I came out here today really believing I could beat this guy, and that's what I did," Polansky told reporters. "I'm just so happy the way I played. I stayed focused the whole match."
Growing up near the tournament's center court, there was no shortage of of support for Polansky as he recorded just his second career ATP Tour win.
But it was another letdown for Melzer as the loss marked the fourth consecutive time he has exited the tournament in the first round.
Russia 12th seed Mikhail Youzhny survived two lengthy rain delays and a traffic jam to outlast Frenchman Gilles Simon and advance with a 6-4 6-4 victory.
The early match at the tournament began 30 minutes late with Simon caught in traffic, and it finished nearly eight hours later after rain twice interrupted play.
Down a set but up 4-1 in second when rain halted play a second time for five hours, Simon returned to the court and lost five straight games to end a dreary afternoon.
It was a bad day all around for the French contingent as Richard Gasquet, a former finalist in Canada, joined Simon at the exit after a 7-5 6-1 loss to Ukraine's Sergiy Stakhovsky.
Argentina's Juan Ignacio Chela advanced with tidy 6-0 6-3 win over Colombian Alejandro Falla and earned a second-round meeting with world number three and twice Canadian champion Roger Federer of Switzerland.
