Zverev races to third round in Montreal, Rublev advances

Alexander Zverev wasted little time in earning a Tour-leading 48th win of the season on Thursday at the Omnium Banque National présenté par Rogers in Montreal, where he cruised past Australian Jordan Thompson 6-1, 6-1 to reach the third round.

The No. 4 player in the PIF ATP Rankings was competing on hard courts for the first time since his semi-final run in March in Maimi but adjusted quickly to advance after 63 minutes.

Zverev dominated on serve, winning 95 per cent (18/19) of points behind his first delivery, according to Infosys ATP Stats, while he tallied a 20-8 winners-to-unforced errors ratio to avenge his semi-final defeat to Thompson in Los Cabos earlier this year and level their Lexus ATP Head2Head series at 2-2.

The second-seeded German has fond memories in Montreal, having defeated Roger Federer in straight sets to win the title in 2017 when he was aged 20.

Zverev will continue his quest this week at the ATP Masters 1000 hard-court event against 13th seed Holger Rune, who ousted Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta 6-1, 6-3.

The 27-year-old Zverev, a titlist in Rome earlier this year, is third in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin. A deep run in Canada will further boost his chances of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals, an event he has won twice (2018, 2021).

Seeds Casper Ruud, Andrey Rublev and Grigor Dimitrov also advanced. Ruud defeated Australian James Duckworth 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-3 while Rublev beat Tomas Martin Etcheverry 7-6(3), 6-2. Dimitrov downed Rinky Hijikata 6-1, 6-0.

Rublev won his second Masters 1000 title in Madrid earlier this year and has now equalled his best result at the Canadian Masters 1000 event by reaching the third round. He will next play Brandon Nakashima.

Australian Alexei Popyrin upset 11th seed Ben Shelton 6-4, 7-6(4) to level their Lexus ATP Head2Head series at 1-1. Shelton last year spoiled Popyrin's hopes at his home Slam in Melbourne, where the lefty earned a third-round victory in straight sets.