MONTREAL, August 6, 2022 (Tennis Canada Press Release)
On Friday, the main draw of the National Bank Open presented by Rogers was decided at Le Cathcart, in Place Ville Marie in downtown Montréal, with World No. 4 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain and World No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece in attendance.
There are several first-round matches to keep an eye on, including the clash between No.10 Taylor Fritz (USA) and wild card Andy Murray (Great Britain). The two will be going head-to-head for the very first time, and the battle promises to be a tough one. Murray is a three-time Canadian Open champion (2009, 2010 and 2015), and Fritz has an 11-2 record on the 2022 Masters 1000 circuit and raised two winner’s trophies this season, including the prestigious BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.
The first round also features two Canadians: Denis Shapovalov (ON) will face No. 15 Alex de Minaur of Australia, and Alexis Galarneau (QC) is pitted against Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria. Should the Canadians win, they will cross paths in the second round for the first time in their professional careers. Either way, the winner could face some tough rivals down the road, as the top seed Daniil Medvedev of Russia and eighth seed Hubert Hurkacz of Poland are in the same quarter of the draw.
Québec’s own Félix Auger-Aliassime, who has a first-round bye as the sixth seed, is in the second quarter of the draw. He could eventually meet up with Cameron Norrie (9) and Casper Ruud (4). Although the Montrealer has played in four National Bank events, this is only his second time competing in his hometown. Finally, No.141 Vasek Pospisil will make his entrance against No.34 Tommy Paul of the US. It is actually the second straight year the two come to blows in the first round of the National Bank Open. In 2021, Paul secured a 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-3 win over the Canadian in their only match-up to date. Whoever wins will have his work cut out for him in the next few rounds, since No.2 Carlos Alcaraz, No.5 Andrey Rublev, Taylor Fritz and Andy Murray are all in the same section of the draw.
Les quarts de finale potentiels @FILAtennis sont connus ! Voici ce à quoi nous pourrions assister d’ici les derniers tours de l’#OBN22. 👀
Selon vous qui s’y rendra ? 👇 pic.twitter.com/4y2TjPRVeX
— Omnium Banque Nationale (@OBNmontreal) August 5, 2022
Click here for the singles main draw.
Reilly Opelka bows out
As the draw was being decided, No.17 Reilly Opelka of the US withdrew from the National Bank Open. His absence makes Gaël Monfils of France the 17th seed and gives Pedro Martinez of Spain his ticket to the main event.
