Montreal Turns Bitter for Italy: Only Darderi Advances

Luciano Darderi was the only one of the four Italians on court between the afternoon and night sessions at the Masters 1000 in Montreal to advance, and he did it without even having to close out the match: leading 6-4, 2-3 against Canadian Gabriel Diallo, he watched his opponent retire with a left leg injury. In the third round he faces China's Shang Juncheng, who in the previous round eliminated Andrey Rublev, the No. 10 seed, saving five match points.

The heaviest disappointment belongs to Flavio Cobolli. The No. 6 seed was eliminated in his opening match by Germany's Yannick Hanfmann, 34, world No. 57, 7-6(5), 7-6(2). Two sets, two tiebreaks, neither one taken home: the first lost 7-5, the second let slip 7-2. In the moments when the match demanded a response, Cobolli didn't find one.

In the afternoon, the other two had already gone out. Mattia Bellucci, returning after more than a month out with the knee injury picked up in training before Wimbledon and still playing with a knee brace, fell to Sebastián Báez 7-5, 6-3, with 42 unforced errors against 12 winners and six double faults.

Lorenzo Sonego lost 7-6(5), 7-5 to Tallon Griekspoor: an hour and two minutes for the first set alone, then a wasted set point in the second and the serve lost at love at the decisive moment. The Dutchman faces Alexander Zverev in the third round.

Today it's the turn of the last two Italians awaiting their openers. Lorenzo Musetti, the No. 11 seed, opens play on Rogers Court at 5 p.m. Italian time against Colombian qualifier Nicolas Mejia. Matteo Arnaldi plays in the late session, at 9:30 p.m., against Hungary's Fabian Marozsan.