By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Saturday September 5, 2020
Vasek Pospisil’s career resurrection continues at full throttle in New York. The 30-year-old Canadian upset No.8-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut on Day 6 with a come from behind 7-5 2-6 4-6 6-3 6-2 victory to reach the round of 16 at the US Open for the first time in his career.
The former World No.25 has been on the comeback trail ever since making his return from back surgery last summer at Wimbledon. There he was toppled by Felix Auger-Aliassime in his first match, but later in 2019 he started to find his game.
He won two Challenger titles, in Las Vegas and Charlottesville, late last year and pushed his ranking back close to 150. Then, this winter he reached the Montpellier final, playing brilliant tennis, and cracked the Top 100 a few weeks later.
Pospisil has continued his momentum here in New York, earning victories over Philipp Kohlschreiber, Milos Raonic and Bautista Agut to win three straight matches at a Slam for the first time since 2015, and just the second time in 27 appearances in Grand Slam singles draws.
In Pospisil’s mind, it wasn’t a lock from the start.
“I didn't feel great in practice leading up to my first-round match,” Pospisil told reporters after his second round match. “I just tried to take it as—I was trying to be realistic with the fact that maybe it would take me a couple of tournaments to get into the swing of things.
“Then about two or three days before my first round I actually got a really good rhythm. I was, like, Okay, I feel like I can maybe do something here this week. It wasn't really until the last two or three days before my first round.”
Pospisil’s victory over his compatriot was an eye opener, especially given how well Raonic had played during the previous week at the Western and Southern Open (he reached the final and lost to Djokovic). But the Canadian’s victory over the grinding baseliner Bautista Agut from two sets to one down is even more surprising. Pospisil had lost all three previous matches with the Spaniard, and he wasn't in perfect physical form as he needed to see a trainer after the third set. But he responded with some of his most breathtaking tennis in sets four and five.
The Canadian will move on to face Australia’s Alex de Minaur in the round of 16 on Monday.
“I had a little bit of a physical dip there in the second and third sets and then I think the shade came in which really helped me, actually, and I kind of settled in,” Pospisil said of the match.
Pospisil hit 19 aces and won 75 of 100 first-serve points against Bautista Agut on Saturday. His first-serve topped out at 130 and he saved 12 of the 15 break points he faced.
Through three rounds the Canadian has served-and-volleyed 26 times, more than any other player remaining in either draw, and won 19 of those points,
“I played to win, and no doubts and no regrets, that’s the mentality I had all the way through,” he said. “I worked really hard, just thrilled to be here, any time.”