TORONTO – After a couple of matches on Tuesday, the second round was in full swing on Wednesday as the tournament’s top seeds, as well as the hometown contingent, got right to work.

To start the day off, 3-seeded Kei Nishikori took on American Dennis Novikov, defeating him 6-4, 7-5. More importantly, though, was that Wednesday’s match was the first for the Japanese star since an injury suffered at Wimbledon just a few weeks ago. Following his victory, Nishikori was asked how he felt in his return.

“I thought it was a good match,” he said. “I mean, good enough for first match from Wimbledon. You know, I knew I was going to get up-and-downs because I haven’t played matches long time.”

Sticking to the injury front, Nishikori touched on whether there is more room at the proverbial top of the mountain with Rafael Nadal still sidelined and Roger Federer packing it in for the season.

“Yeah. I mean, we have been seeing that actually from last year, too,” he said. “I mean, from me and also you see Milos [Raonic], a couple of guys coming to like semifinal/final in a Grand Slam or big tournaments.”

Nishikori continued, “Well, still, Novak and Andy [Murray] is, you know, they’re kind of dominating still the whole tour right now. It’s going to be a big challenge for us to play against them and win some matches. I think I have been trying to do that, and it’s looking great. You know, for me, I have a great season so far.”

As for this week, Nishikori advances to the third round where he is set to face American Rajeev Ram, who also won on Wednesday, upsetting 13-seeded Frenchman Lucas Pouille 6-4, 7-6(5).

The most exciting match on Wednesday, though, was a battle of the Americans as ninth-seeded John Isner took on Ryan Harrison.

A native of Shreveport, Louisiana, Harrison did not give an inch against the more experienced Isner. But after winning the first set 7-6(3), Isner staved off elimination in the second set, winning 7-6(4) before the two battled it out in the third and deciding set. But in the end, it was the younger Harrison who prevailed, taking the deciding set 6-4.

Despite firing 25 aces and winning 91% of his first serve points, Isner just could not fend off Harrison in a marathon that lasted 2 hours and 22 minutes. As big as this result was for Harrison, though, his tournament does not get any easier as waiting for him in the third round is world no. 8 Tomas Berdych.

In another all-American matchup, 16-seeded Jack Sock, supported by 80% of service points won, defeated Donald Young 6-4, 6-3.

The most anticipated match of the afternoon was Gilles Muller of Luxembourg taking on No. 1 Novak Djokovic. This was Djokovic’s first match since bowing out of Wimbledon to Sam Querrey earlier this month, so many were wondering how the top seed would play in his return.

It was no picnic for Djokovic as Muller went the distance with him and while he did show flashes of his usual brilliance, the No. 1 seed did not dominate by any means. He did, however, look gradually stronger as the match went on, ultimately besting Muller 7-5, 7-6(3). Still, being a three-time Rogers Cup champion – among other accomplishments – expect Djokovic to only get better as the week progresses.

“Gilles Muller, very difficult player to play against in quick conditions,” Djokovic said following his victory. “Takes away the time of the opponent. He serves and volleys (the) second serve a lot, as well, which he’s one of the rare guys that does that.”

“[Muller] likes to play quick, and I think the warm day like today played a lot in his favor. I managed start of the match well and got a set and a break up, and then I dropped my serve twice in the second set. Those are the only, let’s say, downsides to the match today,” he said. “Other than that, I’m quite pleased with the way I held my nerves and was focused and just overall performance was very pleasing considering it was the first hard court match for a long time.”

For the Canadians, the day did not get off to a promising start.

Peter Polansky and Steven Diez, who each won their first-round matches on Monday, fell short on Wednesday. First, Polansky lost to Radek Stepanek 7-6(5), 6-4 followed by Diez losing to 12-seeded Bernard Tomic of Australia 6-3, 7-6(4).

Vasek Pospisil fared a little better against the 10-seed Gael Monfils but after edging the Canadian 7-6(6) in the opening set, the Frenchman closed out the match in convincing fashion, winning the second and deciding set at 6-0. Both exchanged seven aces but with only one double fault against him, Monfils was virtually mistake-free and thus, too much for Pospisil on this day.

Milos Raonic made up for the lack of hometown success in the evening, though.

In his first match this week, the 2016 Wimbledon finalist needed just 65 minutes to beat Yen-Hsun Lu of Chinese Taipei, winning 6-3, 6-3. Raonic fired eight aces and was perfect in break points saved as he rolls into the third round where he will face Jared Donaldson of the United States. Donaldson defeated Italy’s Fabio Fognini 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 earlier in the day.

Following his victory, Raonic touched on his game and what factored towards said win.

“I kept it pretty simple,” the 25-year-old said. “Served okay. Served a high first-serve percentage. Didn’t give [Lu] any looks there. I took rhythm away from him. You know, it’s a good way to start the tournament. I look to continue hopefully playing better the next match, which I know is going to be necessary. It’s a very good way to start this tournament.”

To close out the day, reigning Wimbledon Junior champion Denis Shapovalov was looking to send the hometown crowd home on a positive note. Unfortunately for the young Canadian, his opponent, Grigor Dimitrov, had other ideas.

Despite a valiant effort from the 17-year-old, the Bulgarian’s veteran expertise was the difference on this night, as Dimitrov advances to the third round with a 6-4, 6-3 victory. It may not have been his night, but Shapovalov has a very bright future ahead of him.

Fellow countryman Milos Raonic was glowing over Shapovalov and the state of Canadian tennis overall. “Well, [Denis has] been doing incredible things. It’s actually a pleasure to have more and more players to share [the Canadian spotlight] with. I think this was the most players we had in the second round in a long time. It’s great to see that. It’s great to see it from a young group of players, as well.” Continuing, Raonic said, ““Denis, I watched a few of his matches at Wimbledon. He was playing great. He played great against Nick [Kyrgios] the other night.”

So, as Wednesday came to a close, so does the second round of play. The third round begins on Thursday morning with some exciting matchups to look forward to.

In addition to the aforementioned, some notable third-round matchups include Jack Sock against Stan Wawrinka, David Goffin of Belgium taking on Gael Monfils and Grigor Dimitrov versus 6-foot-9 Croatian Ivo Karlovic.

Also, there will be more of the doubles draw on Thursday with teams like the Bryan brothers of the United States and the Canadian duo of Vasek Pospisil and Daniel Nestor in action.