(Toronto) Norway’s Casper Ruud, seeded no. 3, was eliminated Thursday in the round of 16 of the National Bank Open in Toronto by Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich in three sets 7-6 (7/4), 4-6, 7-6 (7/4).
In great shape, Davidovich, 37th in the world, had already eliminated the German Alexander Zverev the day before and will have every chance in the quarters against the American McKenzie McDonald, who beat Canadian veteran Milos Raonic on Thursday (6-3, 6-3).
Ruud, whose match against Davydovich was interrupted for an hour by the rain, was making his comeback on hard courts after playing on clay in July (final in Bastad and quarter-final in Hamburg, beaten by the young Frenchman Arthur Fils ).
There have been many surprises since the start of the week in Toronto where six of the top ten seeds have already disappeared: Stefanos Tsitsipas, Andrey Rublev, Holger Rune, Frances Tiafoe, Félix Auger-Aliassime and Ruud.
The Russian Daniil Medvedev (N.2) is still in the race after his easy success Thursday on the Italian Lorenzo Musetti, 19th in the world, in two sets 6-4, 6-4.
The no. 1 Carlos Alcaraz was to face Pole Hubert Hurkacz (17th) later.
Gaël Monfils, the day after his exploit against Tsitsipas, was opposed to the Australian Aleksandar Vukic, drafted after losing in qualification, ranked 62nd in the world.
