Montreal Day 1 Recap Served Up by IGA: Canadian Wild Card Chan, Popyrin, Tsitsipas Among 16 Qualifiers

In addition, Canadian Duncan Chan, ranked No. 601, upset No. 5 seed Frenchman Hugo Gaston 2-6, 7-5, 6-3 to qualify into his first career ATP Tour tournament.

Popyrin was one of four Australians to qualify into the main draw as he led countryman Thanasi Kokkinakis, who retired due to a back injury with Popyrin serving at 6-4, 2-3 in the second set. Popyrin, who was the No. 10 seed in qualifying, only lost seven points in seven service games. He hit seven aces, won 92% of first serve points (22 of 24) and 67% of second serve points (10 of 15).

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The other Aussies to qualify were No. 8 seed Adam Walton, No. 12 Aleksandar Vukic and No. 22 Christopher O'Connell.  Walton defeated Canadian wild card Justin Boulais 7-5, 7-6(4), Vukic beat Tomas Barrios Vera of Chile, 7-6 (4), 6-2, and O’Connell rallied past No. 2 seed Jaime Faria of Portugal 6-7(8), 6-2, 6-4.

Tsitsipas, who captured his 13th career ATP Tour title in Gstaad two weeks ago, won 25 of 27 first serve points (93%) and saved the only break point he faced in his 6-3, 6-4 victory over 20-year-old Regina native Keegan Rice.

Three Frenchmen and three Americans also qualified into the main draw, which was the second-most behind the Aussies.

The French trio included Titouan Droguet, who rallied past Dalibor Svrcina 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. Kyrian Jacquet beat No. 4 seed Aleksandar Shevchenko 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, and No. 9 seed Benjamin Bonzi eliminated Hugo Dellien of Bolivia, 7-5, 6-2.

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The American trio was led by No. 3 seed Marcos Giron, who defeated Spaniard Pablo Llamas Ruiz 2-6, 6-3, 6-1. Martin Damm hit 13 aces in a 6-3, 7-6(3) win over Portugal’s Henrique Rocha, and former two-time NCAA collegiate champion Michael Zheng beat former World No. 4 Kei Nishikori 6-3, 6-1, in 64 minutes.

The upset of the day was the 21-year-old Chan from Markham. Despite eight double faults and getting broken four times, Chan converted 5 of 13 break points to defeat the 90th-ranked Frenchman in just over two hours (2:05).

Here are the other qualifiers into the main draw:

[7] Sho Shimabukuro (JPN) d. [27] Nicolai Budkov Kjaer (NOR) 6-3, 6-4

[13] Jacob Fearnley (GBR) d. [21] Sebastian Ofner (AUT) 7-6(3), 6-2

[14] Shintaro Mochizuki (JPN) d. [19] Dane Sweeny (AUS) 1-6, 7-6(5), 6-3

[24] Nicolas Mejia (COL) d. [6] Marco Trungelliti (ARG) 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-1

QUALIFIERS PLACED IN THE MAIN DRAW 

Top Half -

[Q] Shintaro Mochizuki (JPN) vs. Fabian Marozsan (HUN)

[Q] Alexei Popyrin (AUS) vs. Roman Andrea Burruchaga (ARG)

[Q] Duncan Chan (CAN) vs. Thiago Agustin Tirante (ARG)

Hubert Hurkacz (POL) vs. [Q] Marcos Giron (USA)

[Q] Jacob Fearnley (GBR) vs. Adrian Mannarino (FRA)

[Q] Martin Damm (USA) vs. [Q] Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE)

[Q] Adam Walton (AUS) vs. Jenson Brooksby (USA)

Bottom Half -

[Q] Nicolas Mejia (COL) vs. Martin Landaluce (ESP)

James Duckworth (AUS) vs. [Q] Christopher O’Connell (AUS)

[Q] Benjamin Bonzi (FRA) vs. Yannick Hanfmann (GER)

[WC] Gabriel Diallo (CAN) vs. [Q] Kyrian Jacquet (FRA)

[Q] Sho Shimabukuro (JPN) vs. Marin Cilic (CRO)

[Q] Michael Zheng (USA) vs. Miomir Kecmanovic (SRB)

[Q] Aleksandar Vukic (AUS) vs. Daniel Altmaier (GER)

Luca Van Assche (FRA) vs. [Q] Titouan Droguet (FRA)

Photos by: Pascal Ratthé