Sixth-seeded Andrey Rublev of Russia shrugged off a first-set loss to defeat No. 28 Lorenzo Sonego of Italy 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 in third-round action on Friday at the National Bank Open in Toronto.
Rublev had six aces among 29 winners in the victory.
“The main thing today, I was able to be mentally really good,” Rublev told the Tennis Channel. “After the first set, I didn’t (go) down. I was, like, ‘OK, let’s keep fighting, keep being positive’ … then I was able to create more things, like to go to the net.”
Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina pulled off an upset as the No. 20 seed knocked out 12th-seeded Jakub Mensik of Czechia 6-2, 6-4. Davidovich Fokina converted all four of his break points as he won 49.1 percent of his returns (28 of 57). His reward is a fourth-round match versus Rublev.
“Today was a tricky match,” Davidovich Fokina said. “I played Mensik twice this year. He’s a great server, I knew I had to play every point and move him. It gave me confidence because I knew I had my chances in every game. I think I’m playing well.”
Davidovich Fokina, 26, has moved into the Top 20 for the first time in his career after losing in a heartbreaking final to Alex de Minaur in Washington, D.C. last week. The two are the lone players on tour to have 20 hard-court match wins in 2025.
Czechia’s Jiri Lehecka earned the day’s other upset as the No. 19 seed rallied to take down No. 15 Arthur Fils of France by a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 count. Lehecka stacked up 12 aces to Fils’ three on the hard court.
No. 7 Frances Tiafoe beat Australia’s Aleksandar Vukic 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 to advance to a fourth-round match with the ninth-seeded de Minaur on Sunday. No. 13 Flavio Cobolli of Italy maxed out his serve at 135 mph during his 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 victory over Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan.
A pair of Americans advanced in the night session in Toronto. No. 2 Taylor Fritz disappointed the home crowd and dispatched of Canadian Gabriel Diallo, 6-4, 6-2 in only 75 minutes, while No. 4 Ben Shelton overcome an erratic performance to sneak past No. 25 Brandon Nakashima, 6-7 (8), 6-2, 7-6 (5).
The top-ranked American broke Diallo’s serve in the first game of the match and the third game of the second set and cruised into the fourth round. He produced a pedestrian five aces, but won 23 of 26 points on his first serve.
“I thought it was really important to not let him get back in. (If) he gets a break back, he gets fired up with the crowd, momentum kind of shifts. I felt like a lot could have changed if I let up on a service game,” Fritz said. “Even the games that I didn’t serve my best in, I felt like I backed it up really well from the baseline, so I’m happy with that.”
Shelton committed 47 unforced errors and eight double faults, yet prevailed in two hours, 36 minutes. He had two match points at 5-4 in the 10th game of the deciding set, but Nakashima won four points in a row. Shelton never trailed in the tiebreaker and finished the match with one of his 19 aces.
–Field Level Media
