Indian Wells: Vasek Pospisil, playing tennis with renewed purpose after a tumultuous 2016, knew something big was coming, but a stunning triumph over world No. 1 Andy Murray exceeded his expectations.
“Amazing feeling,” Pospisil said after vanquishing Britain’s Murray 6-4, 7-6 (7/5) in the second round of the ATP Indian Wells Masters.
“I feel like I’m on a comeback trail,” he added.
“I felt like a big result was coming, because I believe in my abilities, but just kind of had to put the pieces together again. Obviously to beat the number one player in the world is incredible.”
The 26-year-old from Vernon, British Columbia, was ranked as high as 25th in the world in 2014 and in 2015 captured the Wimbledon doubles crown with American Jack Sock.
But he was playing on the lower-rung Challenger circuit as recently as February, honing his game under the guidance of new coach Mark Woodforde and trying to build up a ranking that had slipped outside the top 130 in the world.
He said Australia’s Woodforde, a 12-time Grand Slam doubles champion, had proved the perfect addition as he sought to rekindle the fire he lacked last year.
“He has a lot of wisdom,” Pospisil said. “He’s been around for many years. He was a great singles player himself.
“Doubles, obviously, that goes without saying, one of the doubles greats. But he was a very accomplished singles player, and I felt like he could help me kind of discover more about my game and how I want to play.”
Still glowing from his victory over Murray, Pospisil wasn’t interested in discussing the details of the personal troubles that played havoc with his career last year.
“I feel like I came out a little bit more wise about life, about myself,” he said. “I think that’s why I’m also now enjoying my time on the court so much more these days.
“The last few months I have been kind of stopping myself during matches and realising how happy I am to even be competing and playing tennis.”
French seventh seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga also fell at the first hurdle, stunned 7-6 (7/4), 3-6, 6-4 by Italy’s Fabio Fognini.
Fognini, ranked 43rd in the world, notched his first win over eighth-ranked Tsonga in five career meetings.
He also ended the Frenchman’s nine-match winning streak that had seen him lift trophies in Rotterdam and Marseille.
Third-seeded Swiss Stan Wawrinka advanced without incident, downing Italian Paolo Lorenzi 6-3, 6-4 to set up a third-round meeting with Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber, who was trailing 6-7 (3/7), 1-1 when Alexandr Dolgopolov retired from their match.
Eighth-seeded Austrian Dominic Thiem also advanced on cue, easing past France’s Jeremy Chardy 6-2, 6-4 while Japanese lucky loser Yoshihito Nishioka upset 19th-seeded Ivo Karlovic 6-4, 6-3.
Nishioka withstood a dozen aces from the Croatian veteran, breaking him three times while saving all seven break points he faced.
