de Minaur misses match point, Fils looks sharp at NBO

Opportunity was indeed knocking but at the same time, that pressure can be tricky to handle — especially since the Australian has never won a Masters 1000 before. Sure enough, de Minaur duly exited on another hot and humid day in Montreal, losing to a tough, familar foe, Cameron Norrie, 5-7, 7-6 (5), 6-1 after having a match point in the second set. 

Norrie is no ordinary unseeded player. Unlike the super speedy “Demon,” as he is known, the Brit owns a Masters 1000 title from Indian Wells in 2021. And 30-year-old held a 3-1 record against the world No. 7 on hard courts. Norrie hasn’t been able to replicate his breakout 2021 season but he’s finding his form again after a recent rib injury, making the semifinals in Los Cabos last week where he lost a slugfest to Canadian Denis Shapovalov. de Minaur, playing his second tournament since getting married to WTA player Katie Boulter, broke to start the match but fell behind 3-1. His forehand routinely missed, while Norrie mixed things up, changing spins as per usual from the baseline and also tried to finish at the net. It was going his way until being broken from 40-0 up at 4-2. A temporary turning point. If that wasn’t enough for Norrie to deal with, the lefty was then broken from 40-15 up to trail 6-5. de Minaur sealed the game with a sizzling cross-court backhand return as Norrie attempted to serve and volley. 

The crowd couldn’t believe it and they saw an even better point in the next game. At 15-all, Norrie’s quick hands countered a passing shot, he hit a backhand overhead and scurried to reach a ball in the corner. de Minaur then authored two half-volleys from the baseline prior to ending the point with an incredible lob. A jaded looking Norrie was then broken for 1-2 in the second and then again. Even when de Minaur hit a double fault on his match point at 5-2, it felt inconsequential because of his big lead. 

Things changed in a hurry. Norrie began to flatten out his forehand and his balls that were going inches wide down the line were staying in and he ultimately forced a final frame. The match lasted nearly three hours — but the last sent went quick. de Minaur, who made his lone Masters final in Canada in 2023, committed 30 forehand unforced errors overall. 

Fils looks sharp 

Norrie, into the fourth round in Canada for the first time, next meets Arthur Fils. 

The Frenchman started play at Centre Court after a brief rain delay and beat Argentina’s Mariano Navone 6-3, 6-2. His all-court game wore down Navone, not an easy thing to do. 

READ: Jodar, Fonseca, Tien and more: Meet the young stars at the NBO

The No. 18 seed, hampered by back and hip injuries in the last year, tallied 91 percent of his first-serve points and wasn’t broken. 

On Rogers Court, Italy’s Luciano Darderi reached his second fourth round at a Masters 1000 by topping China’s Jerry Shang 4-6, 6-1, 6-4. 

Shang has been derailed by injuries, too, and he clutched his shoulder in the third set. But the smooth hitting left-hander almost pulled off another comeback. He saved two match points at 3-5 in the third — after saving five to upset Andrey Rublev in the previous round. Darderi, though, served the contest out and will meet Nuno Borges of Portugal in the Round of 16. Borges collected his 50th hard-court win when he got the better of German veteran Yannick Hanfmann 6-4, 6-2. 

Photos: Amélie Caron/Tennis Canada