Daniil Medvedev had to bring out his best tennis to be able to access the round of 16 of the Masters 1,000 in Canada after going through more difficulties than expected against the Kazakh Alexander Bublik, against which he had to come back to win 4-6, 6-3 and 6-4 after two hours of play.
Medvedev, finalist of the tournament in 2019 and great favorite for the title (even more so after the loss at the last minute of Rafa Nadal) went from less to more in the match and, After giving up a break ball to Bublik in the first set, he managed a break in the second set and another in the third of the seven he had in total to win the match. In the round of 16 the Muscovite will now face the Australian James Duckworth or the Italian Jannik Sinner.
The Greek also sealed his pass to the second round Stefanos Tsitsipas, who also suffered against Frenchman Ugo Humbert to beat him in three sets 6-3, 6-7 (13) and 6-1. Despite winning the first set with authority, Tsitsipas saw how Humbert forced the third set after an agonizing tie-break, although in the final set the Greek was a roller and sealed his pass to the round of 16, where he will play against Karatsev or the runner-up of the Olympic Games Karen Khachanov, who beat Briton Cameron Norrie in the first round (6-4, 5-7 and 6-4). Another favorite that is already in the round of 16 is the Norwegian Casper Ruud, who also went to three sets against Marin Cilic, whom he beat 6-3, 3-6 and 6-3, and that will be measured in the next round against Serbian Dusan Lajovic (he beat Ruusuvuori 3-6, 6-3 and 6-3) or local Felix Auger-Aliassime.
The great surprise of the day was starred by the American Reilly Opelka, who after beating Nick Kyrgios in the first round, also defeated in the second round the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, whom he defeated in straight sets 6-3, 6-4. Opelka will now be cited in the second round with the winner of the match between Lloyd Harris and Spaniard Feliciano López, who entered the final draw of the tournament after the abandonment of Rafa Nadal.