MONTREAL — In a candid revelation, National Bank Open presented by Rogers tournament director Valérie Tétreault shared that she began monitoring weather predictions a month ahead of the tournament’s kick-off.
“Every day, I was eager to see how things were developing,” she remarked.
Unfortunately for Tétreault, her worst fears came true on Sunday when the men’s main draw commenced.
With fourteen matches slated, only two were able to conclude due to torrential downpours sweeping across Montreal. The evening matches, featuring local players Gabriel Diallo and Alexis Galarneau, were completely cancelled.
China’s Shang Juncheng triumphed over Paraguay’s Adolfo Daniel Vallejo with a score of 6-3, 6-3 before the first rain arrived at IGA Stadium. A brief interlude in the weather allowed Spain’s Jaume Munar to defeat Australia’s Rinky Hijikata 7-6 (3), 6-3.
Two matches will be resumed later. Portugal’s Nuno Borges was ahead against American Aleksandar Kovacevic at 6-7 (6), 6-2, 0-0 (40-15), while American Michael Zheng and Croatia’s Miomir Kecmanovic were yet to begin their final set after splitting the first two, each taking one set 6-4.
The remaining six matches of the day session were never started, and neither were the four evening contests.
Despite the tournament’s new 12-day schedule providing flexibility to reschedule matches early on, Tétreault acknowledged the challenge of catching up when rain affects the early rounds compared to later stages.
“If we faced three continuous days of rain, that would complicate things immensely, but fortunately, the forecast isn’t indicating that,” Tétreault added.
Ranked No. 270 globally, Shang will face Russian Andrey Rublev in the next round. Rublev, a finalist in 2024, stands as the 10th seed this year.
Munar is set to compete against the 27th-seeded Belgian, Alexander Blockx, in the second round.
Diallo’s clash with France’s Kyrian Jacquet and Galarneau’s showdown against Czechia’s Vit Kopriva are slated for Monday.
Montreal’s Félix Auger-Aliassime, the tournament’s second seed, received a first-round bye. He’s expected to play his second-round match on Tuesday evening against the victor of the all-French contest between Lucas Van Assche and Titouan Droguet.
Denis Shapovalov from Richmond Hill, Ontario, who reached the finals at the Los Cabos Open in Mexico on Saturday, is anticipated to begin his first-round match against American Zachary Svajda on Tuesday morning.
Although Shapovalov was also scheduled to participate in doubles alongside Galarneau, Tétreault mentioned that withdrawal could be a possibility. Should that happen, Duncan Chan from Markham, Ontario, would step in to team up with Galarneau.
