ATP Tour

Van de Zandschulp upsets Medvedev, Tirante ousts Fritz in Montreal

Botic van de Zandschulp earned one of the biggest wins of his career Wednesday night at the National Bank Open presented by Rogers, where he upset fourth seed Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 7-6(5) in the second round.

The Dutchman led 3-0 in the second set before Medvedev battled back to force a tie-break. But Van de Zandschulp stayed in control, capitalising on Medvedev's uncharacteristic errors to seal the victory. The 30-year-old finished having converted six of the eight break points he earned, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

“I managed to mix it up quite well,” Van de Zandschulp said. “I played him a couple of times already, and it has always been tough. I never beat him before, but today I mixed it up very well… I had to change it up, go out of my comfort zone and I think I did it quite well.

By defeating World No. 6 Medvedev in one hour and 39 minutes, the Van de Zandschulp improved to 1-4 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series. The Dutchman also improved to a 9-25 record against Top 10 players, earning his first one since defeating No. 7 Novak Djokovic last year in Indian Wells. The next test for the 30-year-old in Montreal will be Hubert Hurkacz.

Thiago Agustin Tirante also earned a Top-10 win on Wednesday in Montreal, where he recorded a 7-5, 6-3 victory against Taylor Fritz, who struggled physically throughout the second set.

Fritz defeated Rafael Jodar on Monday to lift his biggest title in nearly four years at the ATP 500 event in Washington. Returning to court just 48 hours later in Montreal, the No. 8 player in the PIF ATP Rankings Fritz received a medical timeout in the second set and was unable to move freely in the closing stages against Tirante.

Despite the ongoings across the net, the Argentine remained focused and produced a high-quality performance. Tirante struck 19 winners and lost just one point behind his first serve (25/26) throughout the 88-minute match to reach the third round at an ATP Masters 1000 event for the third time in a row. During the clay swing, the World No. 65 Tirante advanced to the third round in Madrid and the fourth round in Rome.

“I think today I played a really good level to beat Taylor in my first match against him,” Tirante said in his on-court interview. “I think I enjoyed the moment and I will keep improving. I did not have the good sensation yesterday but today was another moment and I think I did a really good match today.”

Tirante, who began the season outside the Top 100, will next meet former champion Alexei Popyrin or Raphael Collignon. The 25-year-old Tirante previously earned Top-10 victories against Ben Shelton and Andrey Rublev.

Jodar, who lost to Fritz in his maiden ATP 500 final in Washington, battled past Corentin Moutet 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 to record victory on his tournament debut.

The 19-year-old Spaniard will hope for a deep run at the Masters 1000 event in a bid to boost his Nitto ATP Finals qualification chances. Jodar is 11th in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin, just 161 points behind eighth-placed Alex de Minaur, who is in the final qualification spot.

If Jodar qualifies for the Nitto ATP Finals, he will be just the third player to have qualified for the season-end event the year after playing at the Next Gen ATP Finals. Stefanos Tsitsipas won the title in London in 2019 after triumphing in Milan in 2018, while Alcaraz qualified for the season finale in 2022 after winning the 20-and-under event in 2021.

World No. 15 Jodar will next play Lorenzo Musetti in Montreal.

Watch Jodar defeat Moutet: