Andy Murray was forced to withdraw from the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers on Thursday evening. After spending nearly five hours on court across his opening wins against Lorenzo Sonego and Max Purcell, the Briton pulled out ahead of his meeting with Jannik Sinner with an abdominal injury.

“I have an issue with my abdominal so unfortunately I’m not going to be able to play this evening. I’m really sorry,” Murray said, addressing the stadium crowd. “I feel like I’ve let you down. I’ve rarely been in this situation in my career and I feel terrible.”

It is just Murray’s seventh time conceding a walkover in his long career. A three-time champion at the ATP Masters 1000 in Canada (2009, 2010, 2015), the 36-year-old was especially upset given that this might be his last appearance in Toronto. He was seeking his first quarter-final at the event since his 2015 title run, and his first Masters quarter-final since he won the Paris crown in 2016.

“I don’t know, this might be my last time playing here as well. So to finish like this feels rubbish,” Murray said before thanking the Canadian fans for the support over the years. He also took time to sign autographs before leaving the court.

Murray is up four places to No. 36 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings behind his two wins this week — his highest mark since 2018—  and is hopeful for a speedy recovery with Cincinnati and the US Open around the corner.

“I had a very similar issue last year in Stuttgart before Wimbledon, which forced me to miss the Queen’s Club tournament,” he recalled. “I was able to play Wimbledon. It took me about 10-12 days before I was feeling good again.

“This is not as bad as that but obviously the danger if you compete and play is you could make it worse. I’ll need to see how it develops over the coming days and hopefully feel better in a few days.”

Courtesy of the walkover, Sinner advanced to face Gael Monfils in Friday’s quarter-finals and moved ahead of Andrey Rublev into fifth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin.

Top seed Carlos Alcaraz overcame a slow start and a dramatic ending Thursday to down 15th seed Hubert Hurkacz and reach the quarter-finals of the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers.

The Spaniard rallied past Hurkacz 3-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(3) to extend his winning streak to 14 matches. Alcaraz held a 5-2 lead in the deciding set and served for the match twice before closing the third-round contest on his fifth match point.

“Honestly, I didn’t know what happened,” Alcaraz said of his third-set slide. “I started feeling bad at that moment. I couldn’t feel the right way in my shots. I didn’t know what happened. But what I was thinking was to stay calm, try to find a way to overcome the problems and find the good feeling again. I think at 5-6 serving, I started to feel better.

“The big players have that feeling to find a way to stay alive and try to end the match playing well.”

Alcaraz struggled to find his best level early, committing unforced forehand errors as the Pole won the first three games of the match for the loss of just three points. A finalist last year in Montreal, Hurkacz played tight to the baseline and took the ball early to push the World No. 1 throughout the two-hour, 38-minute battle.

Despite being broken in the opening game of the second set, Alcaraz stayed focussed and found greater consistency in extended rallies as Hurkacz’s first-serve percentage dropped from 69 per cent to 48.

Alcaraz won 19 consecutive points behind his serve spanning from late in the second set to the third, but struggled to close the match. The two-time major champion had two match points on serve at 5-2 before Hurkacz won four straight games and forced the 12-time tour-level titlist to a tie-break.

“In the tough moments you have to believe in yourself, try to go for it,” said Alcaraz, who committed 28 unforced errors to 48 winners. “It doesn’t matter if you win or not. You have to believe you are going to play your best in that moment, try to play aggressive. I think in the two tie-breaks I did pretty well. That’s why I got the win.”

Aiming for his seventh title of the season, Alcaraz improved to 2-0 in his Lexus ATPHead2Head series with Hurkacz and now boasts a 49-4 season record. He will next play 12th seed Tommy Paul, who upset the Spaniard last year in Montreal. Alcaraz is making his Toronto debut this week and is hoping for his third ATP Masters 1000 title of the year after winning in Indian Wells and Madrid.

Six-time tour-level titlist Hurkacz, who has tallied a 27-17 record this year, was aiming for his second win over a World No. 1.

The American Paul cruised past countryman Marcos Giron 6-3, 6-2 to reach his first Masters 1000 quarter-final of the year and set a third meeting against Alcaraz (1-1). Paul struck 22 winners to Giron’s 13 and fended off seven of eight break points faced.

Paul, who is World No. 14 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, won 17 of 22 points behind Giron’s second serve to level his Lexus ATPHead2Head series with the California native at 1-1. A quarter-finalist last year in Canada, Paul will aim for his maiden win against a World No. 1 on Friday night.

Daniil Medvedev continued his standout 2023 ATP Masters 1000 record on Thursday when he cruised past Lorenzo Musetti 6-4, 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals at the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers.

The second seed was watertight off the ground throughout the one-hour, 33-minute clash, hitting with consistency to limit opportunities for Musetti. Medvedev recovered from a dip in concentration in the second set when he squandered his break advantage, but responded immediately to earn his 48th win of the season.

Medvedev is chasing his third Masters 1000 crown of the season, having triumphed in Miami and Rome. He also reached the final in Indian Wells, holding a 22-3 record at Masters 1000 events this year. If the World No. 3 clinches the title in Toronto, he will join Carlos Alcaraz on a Tour-leading six trophies this season.

The 27-year-old, currently third in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, will next face Alex de Minaur. Medvedev now holds a 9-1 record in Toronto, having triumphed at the Canadian event in 2021.

Musetti was aiming to reach his second Masters 1000 quarter-final of the season after advancing to the last eight on clay in Monte-Carlo. The Italian was unable to sustain any real pressure on Medvedev, who won 82 per cent (28/34) of his first-serve points.

De Minaur completed a stunning first-set comeback en route to a 7-6(7), 4-6, 6-1 victory against American Taylor Fritz. With his win, the Australian reached the quarter-finals at an ATP Masters 1000 event for the first time.

De Minaur trailed 1-5 in the first set against Fritz, who squandered two set points on serve. The Australian eventually sealed the opener on his sixth set point and took advantage of some loose hitting from Fritz in the third set to advance after two hours and 28 minutes.

Fritz is ninth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin and was hoping to boost his chances of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals with a deep run in Toronto. However, he struggled to find consistency against De Minaur, committing 55 unforced errors.

”It feels great to finally break that barrier,” De Minaur said when asked about reaching the last eight at a Masters 1000 event for the first time.

“It’s just a never-say-die attitude. It doesn’t matter what the score is. I’m always going to fight till the end. Being able to compete and stay positive got me into the match. I knew even if I lost that set I’d be in the match and playing a lot better.”

Earlier this year the 24-year-old captured the biggest title of his career at the ATP 500 in Acapulco. He has now won six of his past seven matches, after advancing to the title match in Los Cabos last week (l. to Stefanos Tsitsipas).

Did You Know?
Medvedev owns a Tour-leading 31-3 record on hard courts this season.

Alejandro Davidovich Fokina earned his fifth Top 10 win on Thursday when he claimed a hard-fought 7-6(4), 4-6, 7-6(4) victory against World No. 5 Casper Ruud at the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers.

After Davidovich Fokina clinched the first set, play was suspended for one hour and 34 minutes due to rain. Ruud came out firing on the resumption and was two points away from victory, leading 5-3, 30/0 in the third set before the Spaniard came roaring back to clinch a thrilling victory after three hours and three minutes in Toronto.

Davidovich Fokina struck 58 winners and played aggressively in the late stages of the deciding set, advancing to his fourth ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final.

“I kept very focused on every point,” Davidovich Fokina said. “He had the serve to close out the match, but I was focused on every point to be there and not give up. It was very tough. We played long rallies, with a lot of pressure. When I broke for 4-5, it was a show of power to finish the match.”

With his first Top 10 win on a hard court, the 24-year-old improved to 2-1 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series against Ruud, whose best result this year was a run to the final at Roland Garros. The World No. 37 will meet Mackenzie McDonald in the quarter-finals.

Earlier, McDonald overcame Canadian Milos Raonic 6-3, 6-3 in 71 minutes to reach his first Masters 1000 quarter-final.

Raonic, who did not compete between July 2021 and June 2023 due to a series of injuries, earned victories on home soil against Frances Tiafoe and Taro Daniel earlier this week, but was unable to play with the same intensity against McDonald.

The American McDonald is up 16 spots to No. 43 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. The 28-year-old has now advanced to six tour-level quarter-finals this season.

Nick Kyrgios (wrist) and Jan-Lennard Struff (hip) have withdrawn from the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati and the US Open.

Kyrgios, who was a quarter-finalist last year at Flushing Meadows, has only competed in one event this year — in Stuttgart — due to injury. The Australian missed the entire start of the season after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his left knee in January and missed Wimbledon due to a torn ligament in his wrist.

Kyrgios’ injury-plagued season comes following a standout year in 2022, when he reached the Wimbledon final and won the ATP 500 event in Washington D.C. The 28-year-old, who also partnered Thanasi Kokkinakis to win the 2022 Australian Open doubles crown, earned one of his biggest career wins last year in New York, taking out defending champion Daniil Medvedev in the fourth round.

The German Struff reached a career-high No. 21 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings in June following two finalist appearances (Madrid, Stuttgart). Boasting a 16-10 season record, the 33-year-old last competed at the American major in 2021.

Argentines Diego Schwartzman and Facundo Diaz Acosta move into the US Open main draw.

Play has resumed at the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers on Thursday after a one-hour, 34-minute rain delay.

Alejandro Davidovich Fokina leads Norway’s Casper Ruud 7-6(4), 2-3, while Mackenzie McDonald is a break up against Canadian Milos Raonic, leading 3-2 in the first set.

Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev are scheduled to take to court later on Day 4 in third-round action, with Jannik Sinner facing Andy Murray in the second night match at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Toronto.

With Stefanos Tsitsipas and Andrey Rublev losing early at the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers, several players have an opportunity to make a move in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin.

Jannik Sinner is in prime position to surge as he pursues qualification for the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held in Turin from 12-19 November.

Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin (entering Toronto R3)

If Sinner defeats former World No. 1 Andy Murray in the Toronto third round, he will ascend to fifth in the Live Race. Another win would see him move into fourth.

“Of course you watch these kinds of things. This is why you also practise for,” Sinner said. “But in the other way, we have practised so, so much in the last couple of weeks. Happy to be here, happy to compete again and against the best players in the world and I will play point after point and then we’ll see in the end of the year what’s coming.” 

Two years ago, Sinner replaced Matteo Berrettini as an alternate mid-tournament at the Pala Alpitour in Turin. This season, he is trying to qualify directly into the field for the first time.

That is a feat American Taylor Fritz achieved last year. The 25-year-old has improved his standing in recent weeks by winning the Atlanta Open and making the semi-finals of the Mubadala Citi DC Open in Washington.

Fritz is currently in ninth place, 125 points behind Casper Ruud for the final qualifying spot. A second ATP Masters 1000 title would propel him as high as fifth in the Live Race. How much is the American following the battle?

“A good amount. I think before Atlanta and like D.C. I wasn’t really looking at it because I knew I was a good amount back, so I was like, ‘There’s no point in me looking at it until I have a good result or make it close’,” Fritz said. “And after Atlanta and D.C., I think Casper and I are pretty much even for the eighth spot. So it is what it is, I just have to have good results for the rest of the year and I think that I’ll have a good chance.

“It’s really going to take one big result in my opinion because 100 points, 200 points here I don’t think is going to mean that much when you have so many guys where you just win finals, win a Masters or semi-final a Slam, that’s just going to jump you in front of everybody else. So it’s really just about having a big result.”

Carlos Alcaraz became the first player to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals when he defeated Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon final.