Casper Ruud – Alejandro Davidovitch Fokina: 1-2 ((4)6-7, 6-4, (4)6-7)

The Canadian Open, also known as Canada Masters and National Bank Open, is a combined ATP Masters and WTA 1000 where the two Canadian sister cities of Toronto and Montreal switch between hosting men’s events and Montreal each year. feminine.

This year, the men are playing in Toronto while the women are in Montreal.

The wind and the rain

Casper Ruud is seeded number three in Canada and defended his place in the semi-finals last year when he lost to Hubert Hurkacz.

The Norwegian was granted a first-round bye, beat Jiri Lehecka in the second round before losing to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (ATP 37) in the third round on Thursday night Norwegian time.

The match was an even three-set marathon with two tie-breaks, wind disturbances and a rain break in between. Casper Ruud had a chance to serve out the match at 5-4 in the third set, but squandered that chance and lost when it was all to be decided on another tie-break.

Five hours had passed between the players entering the field and the moment when the Spaniard could celebrate the victory.

Eikeri & Neel break the world record

In Montreal, Ulrikke Eikeri and her Estonian partner Ingrid Neel reached the doubles quarter-finals after defeating third seed Katerina Siniakova and Luisa Stefani in the second round 6-1, 6-2.

Siniakova is the reigning world number one in doubles with a total of 21 titles including all Grand Slam tournaments. It was the second time in a row that Eikeri had beaten the Czech giant in doubles. The last time they met was in the first round of French Open, where Eikeri and Japan’s Eri Hozumi scored a slightly sensational victory over the world’s best doubles pair.

In the quarter-finals in Canada, Eikeri and Neel will meet fifth-seeded Desirae Krawczyk and Demi Schuurs, world No. 10 and No. 12 respectively. In comparison, Eikeri is ranked 55th and Ingrid Neel 62nd.

No Norwegian TV or streaming platform has purchased the rights to Women’s Tennis (WTA) and Eikeri’s matches are only available to Norwegian customers via the web service. WTATV which supports Chromecast.

The quarter-finals take place on Friday (time not yet determined)

Setback for the host country

Canada’s top-ranked men and women, Félix Auger-Aliassime (ATP 12) and Bianca Andreescu (WTA 41), both retired in the first round.

In 2019, 23-year-old Andreescu was ranked world number 4 after winning the Canadian Open and the US Open after defeating Serena Williams in both finals. Bianca is still the highest ranked woman in Canadian history but failed to live up to expectations after the giant year of 2019.

Also missing from the Canada Masters are fourth and fifth seeds Stefanos Tsitsipas and Holger Rune. Among the men, the favorites are Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev.

Among the women, Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka are the favorites to face each other in the final.