Sinner determined to keep his crown in Montreal

Five fates for five Canadians

Commanded by reigning champion and World No.1 Jannik Sinner, who claimed his first Masters 1000 crown in Toronto last year, the main draw of the National Bank Open presented by Rogers was decided on Saturday afternoon at Le Cathcart, at the Esplanade Place Ville Marie in Montréal.

Joining the Italian are Alexander Zverev (2) of Germany, Daniil Medvedev (3) and Hubert Hurkacz (4) of Poland.

Andrey Rublev, Casper Ruud, Grigor Dimitrov and Stefanos Tsitsipas round out the strong contingent of players who’ll benefit from a first-round bye.

Read: Jannik Sinner: work hard, win big

If everything happens the way it’s intended to (and it rarely does), the quarterfinal matchups will be Sinner vs. Rublev, Medvedev vs. Tsitsipas, Dimitrov vs. Hurkacz and Zverev vs. Ruud.

But Tommy Paul in Sinner’s quarter, Ben Shelton in Dimitrov’s and Holger Rune in Zverev’s could cause even the best laid plans to go awry.

Five Canadians in the main draw

There are also five Canadians in the main draw of the National Bank Open.

The highest ranked among them is Olympic semifinalist and mixed doubles bronze medalist Félix Auger-Aliassime (14), who will tussle with Flavio Cobolli of Italy in the opening round. The Quebecer shares a quarter of the draw with Hubert Hurkacz, who suffered a serious injury at Wimbledon and isn’t at the top of his game right now.

Read: Five years later, Milos makes his way to Montréal

Denis Shapovalov, who toppled Rafael Nadal in an epic NBO showdown in Montréal, will start things off against a qualifier. Should he get through, he’ll likely face Tommy Paul, who’s been playing fantastic tennis of late. Fast-forward to the quarters, and Sinner could be waiting in the wings.

Gabriel Diallo, who’s in Tsitsipas’ quarter, was less fortunate: he drew seasoned veteran Karen Khachanov (16) to start things off.

Vasek Pospisil’s luck was hardly any better: he faces Sebastian Korda. Should he clear that hurdle, he’ll have to beat Taylor Fritz next.

Finally, Milos Raonic, who’s back in Montréal for the first time since 2019, will contend with the talented but inconsistent 21-year-old Dane, Holger Rune. If he wins, he could run into Alexander Zverev in the quarters.

Feature photo by: Pascal Ratthé/Tennis Canada