Monfils, Berdych advance with Rogers Cup wins

1:53 AM ET

TORONTO — Gael Monfils of France defeated Joao Sousa of Portugal 6-3, 6-3 and fifth seed Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic beat Croatia’s Borna Coric 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 at the Rogers Cup on Tuesday.

Despite dropping his first set, Berdych, the world No. 8, said that he wasn’t concerned, because it was an early break.

“I mean it was by my mistakes and then it was just basically trying to get used to the conditions because they were quite different,” he said.

“I was just really trying to be patient with myself. Trying also to look for the opportunities. And that’s what paid off.”

Tournament No. 2 seed Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland held off Russian Mikhail Youzhny 7-6 (3), 7-6 (8) in Tuesday’s late match.

Taiwan’s Yen-Hsun Lu admits he’s a bit nervous about his Wednesday matchup against hometown star Milos Raonic, the No. 4 seed, but he’s banking on Raonic having a few butterflies, too.

Lu, who advanced to the second round on Tuesday with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Alexander Zverev of Germany, will have few backers among the expected capacity crowd at the 12,500-seat Aviva Centre.

“All the spectators against you is very tough,” said Lu, 32. “But, I mean, this is what he should get, because he comes from the country and he’s one of the best players right now.”

Later Tuesday, Canada’s Vasek Pospisil defeated Jeremy Chardy in first-round action after the Frenchman retired with a right foot injury.

Chardy started to favor his foot after Pospisil went up 30-0 in the first game of the second set. Chardy …

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