Most of the favorites got the National Bank Open off to a good start on Tuesday at the IGA stadium, notably with a 6-1, 6-3 win over American Taylor Fritz (10e) ahead of Britain’s Andy Murray.
Posted yesterday at 9:42 p.m.
Despite the encouragement of a public who hoped for a closer duel, the veteran Murray often seemed short of resources in the face of the solid play and the powerful shots of his young rival. In big progress this season, including a first title in the Masters 1000 tournament in Indian Wells, California, Fritz is one of the serious contenders for the title this week.
The only surprise of the day was the quick elimination of 11e favorite, the Italian Matteo Berrettini, left rather dryly, 6-3 and 6-2, by the tough Spaniard Pablo Carreno. Visibly hampered by the cool weather, Berrettini – still a semi-finalist in Australia – never found his rhythm in front of a player who didn’t make many mistakes.
PHOTO DAVID KIROUAC, USA TODAY SPORTS
Gael Monfils
For his part, the crowd favorite Gaël Monfils (17e) had to deliver a difficult match of more than 2 hours and 45 minutes before beating the modest Spaniard Pedro Martinez – no link with the former star pitcher… –, 7-6, 3-6 and 6-2.
Cameron Norrie (9e), Marine Cilic (13e) and Roberto Batista Agut (14e) also advanced to the second round. At the end of the evening, the Pole Hubert Hurkacz tried to be the first of the eight favorites to reach the third round against the Finn Emil Ruusuvuori.
On Wednesday, the seven other seeds will come into action, with in particular the highly anticipated duel between favorite Daniil Medvedev and Australian Nick Kyrgios, at the start of the afternoon, and of course the match between Félix Auger-Aliassime (6e) and the Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka, in the early evening, on the center court.
Carlos Alcaraz (2e), Stefanos Tsitsipás (3e), Casper Ruud (4e), Andrey Rublev (5e) and Jannik Sinner (7e) will also play their first game.