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TORONTO — Canada's Frank Dancevic played the role of giant-killer in the first round of the Rogers Cup at Rexall Centre last night, defeating Croatia's Mario Ancic 6-3, 6-4.
Dancevic of Niagara Falls, Ont., came into the match ranked 82nd in the world, while Ancic is 24th. It was only Dancevic's second match on a hard-court surface this season.
With the crowd of roughly 10,500 clearly on his side and chanting "Frank the Tank," Dancevic won in straight sets.
His reward? Today he'll play defending champion Novak Djokovic, ranked No. 3 in the world.
Frank Dancevic returns a backhand during his win over Mario Ancic. (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
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"I'm looking forward to it," said Dancevic, who has never played Djokovic. "Novak is a great champion. He's a great player, and basically, there's no messing around. I'm going to have to go after it … and do the same thing I did today.
"The guy is No. 3 in the world, and I'm going to have to try to keep my focus throughout the whole match and not have any lapses. It's exciting for me and I'll see what happens."
Dancevic was the only Canuck to advance yesterday, as Frédéric Niemeyer of Sherbrooke lost both his first-round singles and doubles matches.
Niemeyer lost 7-6 (4) 6-1 to Spain's Tommy Robredo, the tournament's 12th seed. Later, Niemeyer and partner Julien Benneteau of France lost their first-round match 6-4, 6-4 to Switzerland's Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka.
Overthrowing people higher on the ATP Tour ladder is getting to be a habit with Dancevic, 23.
At Wimbledon this year, he defeated top-10 player David Nalbandian. Last year at Indianapolis, Dancevic felled former world No. 1 Andy Roddick. Last year at this event, Dancevic took Rafael Nadal to three sets.
Dancevic admitted that the 6-foot-5 Ancic was not an easy guy to play and he had to be 100 per cent on his game. The Canadian seemed to lose his focus in the second set, but came roaring back to win it with the large crowd standing and applauding.
Dancevic has had a troubled season this year, injuring his back at the Australian Open in January. The injury — he tore some muscles and the rib attachment to his spine — caused him to lose 31/2 months of action.
He used the time to complete his law degree, all the while strengthening the injured area so that he would "not be in the same shoes again."
Because of his time off, he was nervous before last night's match, "not knowing exactly where my game was," Dancevic said. "I wasn't quite sure exactly how I was going to be moving and how I was going to be feeling out there.
"But it seemed from the first ball, when I started playing I felt the ball right away, and I felt pretty confident out there."
He liked the moniker that the crowd hung on him and relished the home-court pressure.
Dancevic took chances on Ancic's second serves, hit a couple of good returns quickly back at him and caught him by surprise early in the match.
The key to Dancevic's win was his approach to Ancic's second serve.
Dancevic took some chances, hit a couple of good returns quickly back at him and caught him by surprise early. That tactic gave Dancevic 71 per cent of the points he won.
"Wow," he said. "That's pretty good stats. … I knew that putting the ball back in the middle of the court wasn't going to do much because he was just going to run me to the other side.
"I happened to hit some good returns at the right times and that's what got me ahead."
Dancevic said he loves playing on Centre Court, but last night was the first time he'd played in front of a big crowd in Toronto. He felt like "everybody was holding me under their arms," he said.
"I felt the support out there today," he added. "It was a really nice feeling."
