Korda continues winning run, Rublev advances in Montreal
Sebastian Korda extended his winning run to seven matches on Saturday at the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers, where he overcame countryman Taylor Fritz 6-4, 7-6(4) to reach the third round in Montreal.
Korda is playing at a career-high No. 18 in the PIF ATP Rankings, having won his first ATP 500 crown in Washington last week. The 24-year-old saved three set points in the second set on serve at 4-5 against Fritz before he eventually prevailed in the tie-break to advance after one hour and 39 minutes.
[ATP APP]Korda, who improved to 1-2 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Fritz, will return to court later on Saturday when he meets sixth-seeded Norwegian Casper Ruud in the last 16.
Fifth seed Andrey Rublev set a potential quarter-final meeting with World No. 1 Jannik Sinner when he dispatched American Brandon Nakashima 6-2, 6-2.
Rublev struck 22 winners and committed just five unforced errors in a high-quality performance to reach the last eight at the hard-court event. With his 64-minute win, Rublev completed the set of quarter-finals at all nine ATP Masters 1000 events.
The 26-year-old is up one spot to ninth in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin, trailing eighth-placed Stefanos Tsitsipas – who is out of Montreal – by 45 points. Rublev’s best result at the Nitto ATP Finals was a semi-final showing in 2022.
In other early action, Pole Hubert Hurkacz clawed past Thanasi Kokkinakis 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(6) to reach the third round. Hurkacz hit 14 aces according to Infosys ATP Stats and converted on his third match point to triumph after two hours and 30 minutes. He will next meet Arthur Rinderknech after the Frenchman defeated Italian Flavio Cobolli 6-3, 6-2.
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