Rinky Hijikata and fortunate loser James Duckworth be a part of Jordan Thompson and Alexei Popyrin as first-round winners on the Canadian Masters 1000 occasion.
Montreal, Canada, 8 August 2024 | Dan Imhoff
Jordan Thompson has led a solid of Australians by means of to the second spherical of the Montreal Masters on Wednesday, beating Brit Jack Draper for a shot at second seed Alexander Zverev.
The in-form Thompson, who this week broke into the highest 30 for the primary time, noticed off the 22-year-old world No.28 7-5 6-2 on a powerful day for his countrymen.
Alexei Popyrin, Rinky Hijikata and fortunate loser James Duckworth additionally superior. Qualifier Thanasi Kokkinakis was resulting from meet Frenchman Gael Monfils within the Wednesday evening session.
Thompson holds a 2-1 benefit in his file towards world No.4 Zverev, having crushed him within the Los Cabos semifinal this 12 months, en route to his maiden tour title, and within the spherical of 32 in Tokyo final 12 months, whereas Zverev claimed their first assembly in Washington seven years in the past.
> READ: Aussie weekly wrap: Ebden/Friends clinch gold in Paris, Thompson hits career-high mark
World No.62 Popyrin additionally upstaged a higher-ranked opponent when he introduced down 39th-ranked Czech Thomas Machac 6-3 6-4.
Machac had little time to arrange for the swap to onerous court docket, having arrived from the clay in Paris, the place he picked up a blended doubles gold and reached the boys’s doubles semifinals.
Because the Czech served to remain within the match, play was suspended when a spectator collapsed within the stands. After the girl was seen to and play resumed, Popyrin maintained focus to shut it out a sport later for a second-round showdown towards 11th seed Ben Shelton.
Shelton beat the 24-year-old on his strategy to a maiden Grand Slam quarterfinal at Melbourne Park final 12 months.
> READ: Australian Paralympic tennis group locked in for Paris
In a battle of qualifiers, 74th-ranked Hijikata snapped a four-match shedding streak in ATP principal attracts to beat Japan’s Taro Daniel 6-1 7-5. The win set a gathering with seventh seed Grigor Dimitrov.
World No.80 Duckworth made probably the most of his fortunate loser call-up for a 6-4 6-1 victory towards 37th ranked Marcos Giron.
It was his greatest win since he beat then No.14 Shelton at Stuttgart in June and locked in a primary assembly with sixth seed Casper Ruud.