Montreal loses its Big Names: Shelton the Only Top 10 Left

Ben Shelton beat Zizou Bergs 6-3, 6-2 to close out Friday in Montreal as the only top-10 player left in the draw. The defending champion and fifth seed will face João Fonseca in the round of 16. The Brazilian had eliminated Casper Ruud 7-6(6), 6-3 just hours earlier.

Around that match, the top half filled up with names nobody had circled at the start of the week.
Tallon Griekspoor, world number 69, came back to beat Matteo Arnaldi 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, after already knocking out top seed Alexander Zverev in the second round. His round-of-16 opponent will be the Spaniard Daniel Mérida, who beat Alex Michelsen 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-1, wasting three match points in the second set before dominating the third. For Mérida, ranked 63rd, it's the best result of his career at a Masters 1000 and it guarantees him a top-50 ranking.

Rounding out the picture are Learner Tien, who dispatched fellow American Tommy Paul 6-3, 6-2, Thiago Tirante, who knocked out 2024 Montreal champion Alexei Popyrin 6-3, 6-4, Jakub Menšík who beat Terence Atmane 7-5 6-4 and Botic van de Zandschulp, who beat Hubert Hurkacz 3-6, 7-6(4), 7-5.

Today it's the bottom half's turn. In the day session Nuno Borges faces Luciano Darderi, the last Italian left in the draw, while Arthur Rinderknech takes on Brandon Nakashima. In the evening Jiří Lehečka, the eighth seed and the highest seed left after Shelton, faces Rafael Jódar: the Spaniard is nineteen, won Marrakech in April, reached the Washington final on Monday, and on Thursday eliminated Lorenzo Musetti 6-4, 6-3.

The last match of the day pits Arthur Fils against Cameron Norrie, who arrived here off the loudest comeback of the tournament: down 5-7, 2-5 and facing a match point against him, the Brit turned it around against Alex de Minaur 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-1.