No. 1 seed Jannik Sinner of Italy started a busy Saturday off right, completing a 6-4, 6-3 sweep of 15th seed Alejandro Tabilo of Chile in the third round of the National Bank Open in Montreal.
Sinner won 23 of 25 first-serve points (92 percent) and collected 16 winners to Tabilo’s 12 to punch his ticket to the quarterfinals, where he will face Russian Andrey Rublev, the No. 5 seed.
That match is scheduled for later Saturday. Tropical Storm Debby rolled through Montreal on Friday, postponing all matches and forcing some players – like Sinner – to play twice on Saturday.
“Tricky opponent, tricky conditions,” Sinner said of his meeting with Tabilo. “It is difficult playing against this type of player.
Huge lefty, big potential. I had to be very careful, looking a lot to make the game. It felt like a good match.
“I know in my mind I have to play one more time (today), so there is not much time to be happy and recover. I am happy to play again later.”
Rublev also has a victory under his belt already, dispatching American qualifier Brandon Nakashima 6-2, 6-2.
The Russian finished with 22 winners against six unforced errors. Nakashima had nine and 13, respectively.
French qualifier Arthur Rinderknech and No. 4 seed Hubert Hurkacz of Poland were set to play later Saturday after both prevailed in second-round matches earlier in the day.
Rinderknech ousted Italy’s Flavio Cobolli 6-3, 6-2, and Hurkacz picked up a 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (6) win over Australian qualifier Thanasi Kokkinakis.
Jannik Sinner relishing the moment after magnificent Miami performance
After play resumes between Rinderknech and Hurkacz, the winner will collide with Australia’s Alexei Popyrin in the quarterfinals.
Popyrin rallied to pull off a 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3 upset of No. 7 seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria.
Popyrin saved 8 of 9 break points in that match.
The United States’ Sebastian Korda also turned back a seeded foe, eliminating countryman and ninth seed Taylor Fritz with a 6-4, 7-6 (4) sweep.
In other action, No. 2 seed Alexander Zverev topped 13th-seeded Dane Holger Rune, Italian Matteo Arnaldi sank Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain via retirement and Japan’s Kei Nishikori beat Nuno Borges of Portugal.
Nishikori is playing on a protected ranking.
After his win over Fritz, Korda got past Norwegian and No. 6 seed Casper Ruud due to a walkover, putting him in the quarterfinals.
In addition to the Sinner-Rublev and Rinderknech-Hurkacz matches, a clash between Arnaldi and Nishikori was also scheduled for Saturday night.
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