Within hours, the men’s main draw at the National Bank Tennis Open opened up and the road to the men’s title became slightly less grueling.
Tournament favorite and defending champion Daniil Medvedev and second seed Carlos Alcaraz both went down in the second round on Wednesday on Center Court at IGA Stadium.
In his first visit to Montreal, Alcaraz blew two three-game leads in the second set and was upset by American Tommy Paul in straight sets 6-7(4), 7-6(7), 6- 3.
Just over two hours later, Medvedev was shown the exit door in three sets of 6-7 (2), 6-4, 6-2 by Australian Nick Kyrgios.
Alcaraz’s game seemed to tip over midway through the second set, as they held a 4-1 lead. The Spaniard inexplicably started pushing things and he started making a number of mistakes. And suddenly, Paul saw himself opening a breach.
“At 4-1 or 4-2, my coach told me that my level of play had dropped and he told me to raise it. I had the mentality that Carlos works to get his victory, expressed the American. It was a very high level game. I think in the third set we had moments where I think I played probably the highest level of tennis of my career. »
At just 19 years old, Alcaraz arrived in Montreal as the fourth player in the world and he was quickly considered one of the favorites to win the title. Facing Paul, especially in the third set, the pressure and frustration seemed to increase little by little and the Spaniard struggled to keep a cool head.
“I felt this pressure of being the second seed and being the fourth seed in the world and I think it’s the first time I’ve been unable to handle it,” Alcaraz said. I have to keep training to be ready to accept this pressure, learn to manage it and play in these moments. »
Fallout of Canadian Vasek Pospisil in the previous round, Paul will be making his first appearance in the third round at the National Bank Open. He will now cross swords with Croatian Marin Cilic (no 13), who defeated Russian Karen Khachanov 6-3, 6-2.
It was Paul’s third win against a top-10 player this season after defeating Matteo Berrettini in Acapulco and Alexander Zverev in Indian Wells.
“When I play against top-5 or top-10 players, I get very excited. The alarm is less disturbing than usual at 6:45 a.m., he said. I knew I had to play high quality tennis against Carlos and I was just preparing for that. »
When it comes to quality tennis, Kyrgios knows a thing or two lately. The Aussie notched an eighth straight win and thrilled the crowd with several spectacular shots — and some furious moments.
Coming back from a Washington Open title, Kyrgios continued to prove that when he’s able to pair his talent with the right mindset, he’s a tough player that’s hard to push around.
“I think at this point in the season everyone is dragging a little injury, but my mentality is positive. I know that if I don’t feel like playing today and I’m mentally slow, I’m probably going to be physically slow. I’m in a good frame of mind at the moment,” he insisted.
It was a third victory for Kyrgios in four career meetings against Medvedev, who is not only favorite in Montreal, but is currently number one in the world.
“I have already beaten Daniil. I have already beaten Roger (Federer), Novak (Djokovic), ‘Rafa’ (Nadal). I feel like my self-confidence is never low. I could have lost five games in a row that I would believe in my chances of beating anyone,” argued the Australian.
Medvedev was also on a good streak, when he had just been crowned champion of the Los Cabos tournament. He found it a shame to have to play his first match in Montreal against a player who has pace and who could be one of the seeded players of the tournament.
“I felt good physically and my reaction time was there. Nick played well and it’s a shame that I had to play him in my first game because he was in good shape and he’s in the top 10 or 15 in the world. Although I didn’t play badly, I missed a few shots at important moments. It doesn’t mean that I would have won against him later in the tournament, but it’s a shame,” observed the Russian.
Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov (no 15) is the only other seed in the afternoon program to lose. He lost in two sets against the Australian Alex de Minaur.
The Norwegian Casper Ruud (no 4), the Italian Jannik Sinner (no 7), the British Cameron Norrie (no 9), the American Taylor Fritz (no 10), the Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut (no 14) and the Frenchman Gaël Monfils (no 17) all managed to avoid the worst and get their ticket to the next round.
The Canadian Félix Auger-Aliassime (no 6) will make his debut on Wednesday evening, followed by the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas (no 3).