Kyrgios Conquers Medvedev In Montreal, Alcaraz Can’t Handle Paul

The match of the day went the way of the hotter play, and that was Nick Kyrgios. The Australian continued his best career run with a stunning win over defending champion Daniil Medvedev in the second round at the Canadian Open Masters in Montreal.

Both players came off weekend titles but Kyrgios has been on song since the start of the grass season highlighted by his Wimbledon final run. Today, though, Medvedev got out ahead thanks to a poor breaker from Kyrgios.

The Australian had been untouchable on serve until the breaker, but resumed his dominance in the set, and was able, at times, to out rally and out smart Medvedev from the baseline.

In the third, Medvedev failed to convert several break chances early on, and Kyrgios rose up to the challenge, once again coming up with big serves and being the steadier player from the ground when it counted. Kyrgios would go up two breaks and pull away from the world No. 1 for a 6-7(2), 6-4, 6-2 win.

Kyrgios has now won eight straight matches and 13 of his last 14.

“This is the fourth meeting we’ve had and I’ve had some success against him in the past,” said Kyrgios, “But he’s beaten me before. I feel like we know each other’s games well. I’m not the type of player that goes into this match looking at rankings or anything like that, it’s just who I’m playing and what kind of ball they’re giving me.

“Today I had a very clean objective of how I was going to play, a lot of serve-and-volley, a lot of aggressive play from the back,” he said. “I executed better than he did, that’s all it comes down to. He won the first set and I feel like I had opportunities there as well, so hopefully I can just keep this rolling.”

Said Medvedev, “For me, today the biggest difference was that I missed in some important moments some shots,” he said. “I didn’t miss much, but missed just a few where I think it could be different maybe in the later stage of a tournament. That’s a pity. At the same time, well, it’s like this.”

Kyrgios will now face Alex De Minaur tomorrow.

The top seed went out and so did the second seed Carlos Alcaraz. In his Canadian debut, the Spaniard look strong in the opening set against Tommy Paul and then built a lead in the second with match points. But errors crept in and Paul took advantage, snagging the second then hanging on to win the third in some exciting tennis.

“I felt the pressure to be the No. 2 seed in this kind of tournament, No. 4 in the world,” Alcaraz said. “It was the first time that I felt that pressure, and I couldn’t handle it.

“All I can say from this match is I have to train, I have to be ready to have this pressure, to have these kinds of moments, and to learn how to handle it. That’s all I can say right now.

“I could say I couldn’t show my best performance here,” he added. “But as I said, first rounds, you have to fight against your opponent and of course against yourself. Obviously it was tough to handle those moments knowing that I’m not playing my 100%, let’s say… It was a fight with myself.”

Paul enjoyed one of his best career wins.

“It’s nice to finish matches at the net,” said Paul. “He hit a pretty nice passing shot there at the last point and I covered the line well, volleyed it well. I think I did a lot of things well today. I played a good level of tennis, especially there in the third set, so I’m happy to get through.

“I just felt like I was in his service games,” he added. “In the second set I felt like I could break. I didn’t expect to get two breaks back and serve for the set, I felt like I was playing comfortable tennis overall. I stuck to the game plan and played well.”

No. 3 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas also fell victim to the upset bug. The former finalist was shocked by British qualifier Jack Draper 7-5, 7-6(4) in the last match of the day. The Greek has just one semifinal now in his last six events.

Earlier, Gael Monfils moved into the third round with a 2-breaker win over Maxime Cressy. Indian Wells champion Taylor Fritz came from 4-0 down in the third to turn away good friend Frances Tiafoe.

Casper Ruud, Cameron Norrie, Jannik Sinner and Roberto Bautista Agut were also winners. Dan Evans upset Andrey Rublev while Felix Auger-Aliassime advanced over Washington finalist Yoshihito Nishioka.

With all the upsets, a new Masters champion could be in the making on Sunday. Tomorrow sees Ruud against RBA, Norrie facing off against Auger-Aliassime and Sinner battle Pablo Carreno Busta.

Ruud and Auger-Aliassime are the two highest seeds left in the event.

THURSDAY MONTREAL SCHEDULE
Court Central Starts At 12:00 Noon
R16 4 Casper Ruud vs 14 Roberto Bautista Agut
Not Before 3:00 Pm
R16 Nick Kyrgios vs Alex de Minaur
Not Before 4:00 Pm
R16 9 Cameron Norrie vs 6 Felix Auger-Aliassime
Not Before 7:00 Pm
R16 17 Gael Monfils vs Draper or Tsitsipas
R16 7 Jannik Sinner vs Pablo Carreno Busta

Court Rogers Starts At 12:00 Noon
R16 1 Rajeev Ram/Joe Salisbury vs Ariel Behar/Gonzalo Escobar
Not Before 1:30 Pm
R16 Albert Ramos-Vinolas vs 8 Hubert Hurkacz
R16 Daniel Evans vs 10 Taylor Fritz
Not Before 6:30 Pm
R16 13 Marin Cilic vs Tommy Paul