Canada’s Vasek Pospisil couldn’t keep his run of upsets going on Thursday at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament
Serbia’s Filip Krajinovic beat Pospisil 6-4, 7-6 (7) in the second round of the ATP Tour 500 indoor hard-court event.
The 104th-ranked Pospisil, from Vancouver, was coming off a win over top seed and world No. 5 Daniil Medvedev in the opening round. Last week, Pospisil beat four higher-ranked players before dropping the final of the Open Sud de France against Gaël Monfils.
Pospisil fought off three match points against the 39th-ranked Krajinovic, breaking back to tie the second set at 5-5. After that game, Pospisil received treatment on his right knee, having an area just below it wrapped for the remainder of the match.
Pospisil had chances to extend the match, but couldn’t convert on three set points in the second. He was good on only one of nine breakpoint opportunities for the match.
The Canadian’s ranking plummeted after he missed the first six months of the 2019 season to recover from back surgery. He posted solid results upon his return and helped anchor the Canadian team at the Davis Cup Finals last fall.
Pospisil, who cracked the top 25 in 2014, can use his protected ranking for tournament entries through Miami next month.
Meanwhile, Montreal’s Félix Auger-Aliassime will face Slovenia’s Aljaz Bedene in the quarter-finals on Friday.
In doubles, Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., and Rohan Bopanna of India are off to the semi-finals after beating Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands and Horia Tecau of Romania 6-2, 3-6, 10-7.
Auger-Aliassime and Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz lost 6-4, 7-6 (5), 10-8 to South Africa’s Raven Klassen and Austria’s Oliver Marach in another quarter-final.