For a while at IGA Stadium, it was permissible to wonder if the National Bank Open would lose the biggest names of the 2024 edition, after the setbacks of all the Canadians in the previous days, and a mini-hecatomb among many seeded players on Thursday. The victories of Jannik Sinner and Alexander Zverev probably reassured the organizers.
World number one Sinner made a successful return to centre court in the middle of the afternoon with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Croatian Borna Ćorić.
Earlier, on the same court, Zverev, seeded second, crushed Australian Jordan Thompson, 6-1, 6-1, in 63 minutes.
The match between Sinner and Ćorić lasted about thirty minutes longer than Zverev’s, but allowed the Italian to display his superiority as clearly as the German.
Sinner hit nine aces against just two double faults, conceded just one break point chance, which he wiped out, racked up 21 winners and committed just ten unforced errors. He also gave himself 11 chances to break his opponent’s serves and capitalized on three of them.
“I was very happy and excited to get back on court. It was a tough match, but I served well in the important moments and I returned the ball well in the games where I broke his serve. So it’s a very positive start and we’ll see what happens next,” noted the world number one.
Sinner spoke about the playing conditions, which he did not consider easy.
“There’s a bit of a breeze sometimes, the ball flies and it’s hard to get into the rhythm. Obviously, since Miami [en mars]it’s the first time we’re playing on a hard surface, and so in this scenario, the first match is always difficult. I was lucky to play doubles to get my match feeling back,” he stressed.
Sinner’s next opponent will be Alejandro Tabilo, a Chilean from Toronto, who easily defeated Italian Lorenzo Sonego 6-4, 6-2.
An annoying player
The statistics from their past clashes made Thursday’s match between Zverev and Thompson intriguing. Zverev took steps to avoid any form of suspense.
Zverev, who is ranked fourth in the ATP, and Thompson, an Australian who excels in doubles but cannot be taken lightly in singles, as evidenced by his 30e position in the ranking, had crossed swords three times in the past.
Thompson had won the last two duels, one last February and the other in October 2023. Zverev’s only victory was in August 2017 in Washington, and after he lost the first set.
On Thursday, the 27-year-old German quickly imposed himself, with a break in the second game of the match and a second in the sixth game of the opening set.
He added two breaks in the second set, en route to a 4-0 lead and a final one, to close the duel.
Zverev hit just 47 percent of his first serves, but he still had six aces and didn’t concede a single break point. He also won 94 percent of his points after putting his first serve in play.
He also hit 20 winners against only eight unforced errors.
“I felt good. When you don’t feel good, you’re not going to beat a quality player like him, especially a player I don’t like to play against,” Zverev analyzed.
“He’s someone who has a lot of talent and can do a lot of different things with the ball, once you get into the exchange with him. I tried to take that latitude away from him, and I tried to give him less time to react,” added the German.
In the third round, Zverev will face 13th-ranked Holger Rune of Denmark.e seed, who defeated Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta 6-1, 6-3.