ATP Masters Montreal: Brits throw Stefanos Tsitsipas and Andrey Rublev out of the tournament
While Jack Draper took Stefanos Tsitsipas out of the competition at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Montreal, Daniel Evans defeated the Russian Andrey Rublev in straight sets.
by Stefan Bergmann
last edit: Aug 11, 2022, 09:35 am
After the day games - with the exception of the encounter between Daniil Medvedev and Nick Kyrgios - went more or less according to the paper form, the evening games on Wednesday at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Montreal had at least two big surprises in store.
First, Daniel Evans beat fifth seeded Andrey Rublev 6:4, 6:4 after just over an hour and a half. The Russian made it to the semifinals of the hard court event in Washington last week. In a really respectable encounter, Evans impressed with powerful attacking play and kept appearing very present on the net. Next stop for the Birmingham man: US boy Talyor Fritz.
The even bigger coup then succeeded Evans' compatriot Jack Draper. The qualifier from Sutton was able to ruin the start of the US summer hard court season for Stefanos Tsitsipas and won 7: 5, 7: 6 (4) after a little more than two hours of play. The Greek had not played a tournament match since the Grand Slam tournament in Wimbledon.
Also Dimitrov and Schwartzman out
The only 20-year-old Englishman admitted in the subsequent on-court conversation: "After Washington, my coach and I thought that we shouldn't come here at all. We might have wanted to train for a week to gain a little self-confidence. But that Coming paid off." In the round of 16, Draper will face Gael Monfils, who defeated the American Maxime Cressy in two tight tie-breaks 7: 6 (10), 7: 6 (6).
Grigor Dimitrov and Diego Schwartzman also failed in round two. While the fifteenth-ranked Bulgarian 6: 7 (4), 5: 7 lost his teeth on the Australian Alex de Minaur, the number twelve from Argentina had no chance in the 4: 6, 2: 6 against the Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas. De Minaur now challenges the strong performing Kyrgios, Ramos-Vinolas meets Hubert Hurkacz.