Foki Upsets Ruud In Toronto Thriller

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.